Eternally Bound
by Fairysky
Summary: Kai then placed his finger under my chin, forcing me to lock onto his fiery gaze. My knees buckled slightly but I forced myself to remain upright, trying to keep my expression impassive. I wouldn’t, I couldn’t let him see the power he had over me.
1. Prologue

**Eternally Bound**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Beyblade; I only own this plot, Arnia, and any other characters you may not recognise.

**Author's Note: **My first attempt at a Beyblade fanfic, so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Prologue**

_The small hand that held mine tightly and gently pulled me along the corridor only slightly outsized my own just as the boy in which it belonged to was only just my superior in height. The grip on my hand tightened as he yanked me after him around a corner and we began to pick up speed. The corridor we ran was narrow and bare with the only light coming from the long, thin windows close to the ceiling casting us in a gloomy darkness. _

_"Wolf, stop I'm too tired, we should go back we're not allowed down here, we'll get in trouble," I managed to gasp between breaths, only keeping up with the boy due to the sheer force he was dragging me with._

_"Come on Nia, you can do it. We've got to get your blade back, no-one steals from us." He replied. _

_At the mention of my blade my feet spurred into action and I was soon running alongside the boy as we hurtled through the corridor faster than expected from two so young. In seemingly no time at all we slowed as we turned the corner into what appeared to be a dead end, unless of course you knew what you was looking for. Silently, with a nod from Wolf, I clambered onto his shoulders and as he leant into the corner where the two walls met, I bent forward and pushed at the very top just below the ceiling. Soundlessly and smoothly the other side of the wall popped open leaving a considerable gap that Wolf and I could get through with ease. _

_Once in the room I couldn't help but gasp at what I saw. The room itself was just an average study with a desk and computer equipment but the decoration was beyond anything I'd ever seen. There was a heavy, exquisitely carved mahogany door standing on the far wall leading onto the courtyard beyond and was the only other exit from the room. The windows were hung with deep red velvet drapes and the floor was covered in a plush cream carpet, so soft I felt my feet sink into it. The light in the room was much brighter than in the corridor thanks to two crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The matching settee and chair in the room were gold gilt and aged red leather and a glass decanter stood on a table between the two holding a rich plum coloured wine. All in all the room stank of money, but I wasn't here to stare at the décor, I had a mission and I knew what I had to do._

_"Come on, lets get looking," I said to Wolf who like me was mesmerised by the room, but unlike me had a look of disgust on his face. _

_Shaking his head he snapped out of his reverie and started to yank the drawers' open of the desk whilst I pulled the ones open on the cabinet close to the door. Rummaging amongst the papers and the odd bit of stationary I caught no sight of my precious blade. After ten minutes of fruitless searching I was beginning to feel frustrated and angry tears began to prick at the back of my eyes._

_"What's the use we're never going to find it, it might not even be here," I sighed as I flopped my small frame onto the settee._

_"Come on Nia don't give up, this can be the only place that he would ever think of putting it. And there's one place we still haven't looked." Wolf replied._

_I snapped my head up as his words filled me with a renewed hope. "Where?" I asked. _

_Without saying a word he just pointed, high up, right in the corner of the room which I'd completely disregarded at first. There stood a large bookshelf over twice my height. It almost touched the ceiling apart from a small gap, perfect for storing anything not wanted found. I took a step towards it ready to start climbing the book shelf only to find Wolf fling out an arm to stop me. Turning to face him with a look of confusion on my face he still said nothing but put his arms behind his back and pulled out his blade and launcher. _

_"3, 2, 1 let it rip," he cried, sending his blade flying in the air._

_The blade soared smoothly until it came into contact with the wall where it sped lightly up without leaving so much as a mark. As it came to a level with the bookshelf it zigzagged across the top and with a thunk it came falling back down into Wolfs out stretched hand and behind it another fell right at my feet. Looking down I could barely contain my excitement as I saw the familiar blue and silver blade. Snatching it up, I checked over it for any damage._

_"She's good," I sighed, sliding onto the settee._

_"Come on we better get going before we get caught," Wolf said, pulling me up and dragging me towards the wall._

_Before we even got half way there the door started to swing inwards and voices could be heard clearly on the other side._

_With a quick glance at each other we did the only thing that seemed possible and dived behind the settee just as the owners of the voices walked into the room. In the cramped space we just about had enough room to slide under the settee and watch what was going on without risk of being seen. I could only see the shoes of the people but it was enough to identify them as two men and a woman. One of them strode into the room and directed the other two to sit on the settee we were under. However unclear the voices were his was easily recognisable. Turning my head to face Wolf I mouthed one word "Boris." If he was entertaining visitors in his private study which very few knew about they must be important._

_"Can I offer either of you a glass of wine," Boris asked, in a simpering voice._

_"Let's cut to the chase, we all know why we're here and this place is not one I wish to spend more time then necessary. It's about the girl," the man said._

_At this my ears pricked up, I knew I was the only girl in the whole place so I could be the only one they was talking about. Looking once again at Wolf the look on his face established he realised what they was talking about too._

_"Ah, Arnia, yes" Boris said, confirming what I already knew._

_"Yes, that's the one," the man replied, "It's come to our attention that it would be much more profitable to take her away from the organisation. She's just not quite right for our plans."_

_"What do you mean? She is excessively powerful and could be put to good use in the future with just a bit more training, she's-" _

_"That is exactly our point," interrupted the women, "she is a she, it does not bode well for the company if others realise we are using little girls. It's just not promoting the right image. We've spoken to Voltaire on this already and he agrees on the matter, Arnia did you say, will be leaving the company with us today. We can't risk leaving her here any longer. If the government find out it could spell disaster for the whole corporation."_

_"What of the other, the boy is he to stay." Boris asked. _

_"There's no point in loosing two such powerful children," was the man's answer._

_I almost cried out at this except for the hand Wolf had clamped across my mouth sensing my inevitable outburst. As his grip on my face slackened I leant in to his hand needing to feel the closeness of him as the silent tears trickled down my face onto his hand. Looking up at his face I noticed that his eyes were also glistening and were filled with more hurt then I'd seen from him in a long time and he in turn saw mine. We stayed like this for a long while until the slam of a door brought us out of our trance. Noticing the room was now empty, Wolf wriggled out from under the settee and took hold of my hand pulling me upright beside him. Rushing over to the window we saw Boris leading the way and the two unfamiliar backs of the man and woman that were to take me away heading to the main building. _

_"What am I gonna do, I don't want to go anywhere!" I cried out, as the tears started to flow again or maybe they hadn't stopped. "Please Wolf; please don't let them take me away."_

_Wolf was silent for a moment with a look of intense concentration on his face running his hands through his hair like he always did when he was thinking. _

_"I've got it, we'll have to run away, just us two and no-one will ever find us," he shouted._

_"You promise we'll always be together?" I asked _

_"I promise, I'm here to look after you, that's what brothers do."_

_And with that he grabbed my hand, opened the secret door and pulled me at a run through the secret passages. This time knowing speed was a necessity, because although these passages ensured a much quicker route to the dormitories Boris had a head start, I didn't complain once about being exhausted. _

_At great speed we barrelled into the door to our room which was empty expect for mine and Wolf's closet friend. As always his keen sense of perception meant we didn't have to explain the situation to him he instantly knew the seriousness of it. With that the three of us set to work, quickly starting to pack our most necessary possessions and plenty of warm clothes. _

"_I'll go check if it's safe for you" the boy said and with that he left the room._

"_Nia, before we go I think we should swap pendants to keep us safe," Wolf said, bringing out his silver and crystal wolf pendant from around his neck. As usual it was glowing pale blue._

"_Oh okay," I said, pulling my own pendant out from under my shirt. The craftsmanship of both was exactly the same except my own was an eagle and glowed faintly pink at my touch. Pulling it over my head I handed it over to Wolf and he gave me mine. As soon as we relinquished our holds on our own amulets the glow died away and looked like an ordinary pendant. I looked at this confused, unable to comprehend what it meant._

"_Remember what mum told us, no-one can ever pretend to be me and no-one can ever pretend to be you because only in the right hands will the pendants glow. So if we swap and we ever loose each other I'll be able to find you again."_

_I put the wolf pendant over my head and tucked it safely in my shirt. Throwing my arms around Wolf I hugged him tightly not wanting to let go._

_A long low whistle sounded breaking our embrace. That was the signal and I knew it was time to go._

_Quickly and quietly, we skirted the corridors keeping tightly to the walls where the shadows where, for once thankful for the poor lighting that was helping us escape. We turned each corner with baited breath, desperately hoping for each corridor to be empty and each time getting our wish. Our luck hung out and soon we were at the doors to the courtyards. Fifty metres beyond was safety, greater than that freedom._

"_Quick, you better go now, the coast's clear," said our friend._

"_Why don't you come with us, you know how bad it is here anywhere's got to be better, come with me and Wolf," I asked, desperately wanting him to come too._

"_I can't, I've got something I must do before I leave here, but I will find you."_

"_Promise?" I asked uncertainly_

"_Promise," he answered and disappeared into the shadows. At that I felt content; I knew he could be trusted to keep his promise. _

"_Come on now, it's our turn to move." _

_Wolf grabbed my hand and pushed open the door which slid with little resistance and no noise. As we stepped out the icy wind bit into my face and I pulled my hood tighter round my face. The harsh temperature suddenly brought the realism of the situation to me and for the first time I began to panic at the difficulties we would face. As always sensing my fear, Wolf gripped my hand tighter, his warmth flooding through me, soothing me a little. Taking a deep breath, I was able to concentrate once more._

"_We can do this," he said._

"_We **can **do this" I repeated._

_We stepped out into the courtyard, embracing the wall as to reduce our chances of being seen by someone staring out the window. We walked in single file, Wolf in front, me behind, hand in hand, both drawing strength from the other. We carried on walking and before we knew it the gate was there, the gate to the real world, the gate where we could live together without the fear of being separated. Once we were out there we wouldn't need anyone else, just the two of us, which is all we require. We reached out together with the hands that were still adjoined; thanking whatever god was up there that our luck had held out this long._

_And that's when the lights went on._

_Great yellow beams hit us, sending our surroundings into total blackness. A smaller light was moving slowly, trailed on an outline of a man approaching us. As he got nearer, I could see the look on his face. That look explained everything, just one glance at him and I knew. I knew right from the start, ever since we'd left his study, he'd been watching us. Every movement we'd made, he'd seen. He knew our intentions and how much it meant to us. Yet, he just let us go. He knew that what was worse then stopping us before we began, was giving us that hope, the belief we were finally getting out of here and then taking it all away from us. A sardonic smile etched onto his lips, which only grew wider the closer he got to us._

"_Well, what have we got here?" he coldly sniggered._

_At his words Wolf took a protective step forward shielding me from view._

"_You're not going to take Nia, I won't let you."_

_At this my heart filled with pride at how brave Wolf was, even though Boris towered over his small frame._

"_Tut, tut, how noble of you," Boris sneered. "No matter though, even if you had the slightest chance of getting past me you don't think I'd be alone."_

_With a slight nod of his head, the whole courtyard was suddenly flooded with light so bright my eyes scrunched up against it after the darkness that had engulfed us. Once my eyes could once more tolerate the beams, I opened them slightly only to wish I hadn't. Wolf and I where surrounded by at least ten huge men, twice the size of us, clothed in camouflage gear and wearing sunglasses as protection from the harsh lightening. Just one look at these men and my heart sank, there was no way Wolf and I could get passed these, no matter how hard we tried. _

_Feeling a slight pressure on my hand, I gazed up into my brother's face and that's when I knew that the illusion was over, it was time to give in. Looking into his orbs, I was startled to see the regret residing in them. Abruptly, I knew he would believe himself responsible for this and this was something he could never forgive. I knew how hard he was on himself and without me there, there would be no-one to stop the punishment he would make his body endure. It was this more than anything that hurt, the fact that I would never be there to help my brother, however seldom he would need it._

_Once again for the countless time that night, I threw myself into his arms and hugged him tight. The pain in my heart was too much to warrant tears, I just stood there clinging, hoping never to let go._

"_Never forget me, promise, no matter what happens, you'll never forget me," I whispered._

"_How could I ever, I promise, I promise, I'll come get you, Nia, I don't know when but I will come for you."_

_I felt Wolf start to shudder and my face soon became damp with his tears. For the first time since I could remember, Wolf was breaking down whilst I stayed strong. _

_Stalwart arms grabbed around my waist and I was slowly wrenched from my brother's embrace. Stretching out my arms, I tried to maintain contact with him for as long as possible until my finger tips slipped out of his grasp. When I was about five foot away from my brother, I locked eyes with him and whispered 'always remember.' _

_It was to these words he snapped. With a yell he ran towards me, deftly avoiding the two men who where moving in to grab him. Using the element of surprise, he managed to jump at the man holding me, causing his grip to slacken. Seeing my chance, I kicked out with all my strength, catching the man square in the groin. Instinctively, the man doubled over in pain, completely letting me go._

_Looking around I hesitated unsure of what to do, until I felt a hard push on my back and a shouted 'Go!' in my ears. Without looking back, I made a dash towards the gate, only to run smack into Boris, causing me to fall directly to the ground._

"_I don't think so, do you?" he said and with a yank he pulled me up by my collar. "Restrain him, sedate her."_

_I was roughly grabbed by two of the men and held tight. My heart was beating painfully in my throat at the thought of what his words could mean._

_I felt a sharp pain in my arms and my legs buckled beneath me._

_The abbey around me, started spinning and I heard my name shouted from far away._

_Then the world went black. _

With a gasp I awoke. Wriggling, I pulled the covers from around my body where they had twisted and sat up, leaning against the head board. Placing my hands up to my face and I'm shocked to find it wet with tears. Taking a few deep breaths I try to ease the pounding of my heart and quell the uneasiness flooding through my body. Finding this method futile I hop out of bed and pad over to the balcony doors in my room stopping only to pull on my dressing gown and slippers. Flinging open the doors the icy wind hit me and bit through my clothes but I ignored it, instead looked over the city of Moscow

Not for the first time had this dream visited me in my sleep, but that was by far the furthest it had ever gone. It started when I came to this city and has been getting longer and more vivid with each passing day. No longer was it unpredictable but every night when I closed my eyes I knew where my subconscious mind would take me. Yet I came no closer to figuring out where they came from. Where they memories from another life, or a wish that I was from somewhere else, part of a different family? Try as I may to understand them I knew where the missing link came from, that boy, Wolf, the one I called my brother, the one who looked so like me. Was he real or was he another part of my imagination. Like that place we where, the place that sent shivers down my back even know, why was it so darn familiar?

Taking another look at the city, a city I'd never been to before, so why then did it bring up such feelings from within me? Pangs of familiarity where becoming so often I no longer seemed to notice them. Be it people or places, buildings or faces, everything seemed so familiar. I couldn't answer these questions and I didn't know why, but all I knew was I was sure as hell going to find out.

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**Authors Note (2): **_Thanks for reading and I hoped you all enjoyed it so far. I'd like to thank by beta, my cousin Laura (Faith forever in Harry) for checking this over for me. You did a great job, thanks huni!_

_I wasn't going to post this until I'd gotten a few more chapters written but I really wanted to know what you all think, since it took me so long to write. Because of my A levels, updates will be between 2 weeks and a month apart, sorry, but I'll try my best to update sooner. _

_With this being my first Beyblade fic I really want to know what you think and any points for improvement. So press the little blue button and make my day, it only takes a second, lol!_

_Thanks for reading,_

_Lots of Love,_

_Kirsty_

_x x x_


	2. Chapter 1

**Eternally Bound**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Beyblade; I only own this plot, Arnia, and any other characters you may not recognise.

**Author's Note: **My first attempt at a Beyblade fanfic, so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 1**

4 weeks earlier

Yanking open another drawer, I scooped out all the neatly folded T-shirts and dumped them in another box marked 'Arnia's bedroom'. Closing up the lid and taping the edges, I kicked it hard across the room, where it hit the wall with a small thud. Around it, where another ten or so boxes of varying sizes some taped and some still half packed but all marked 'Arnia's bedroom'.

Eyeing them all with disdain, I felt the frustration well up inside of me and I had to bite the inside of my mouth to quell the urge to throw something hard at the wall. Moving day was three days a way and I was dreading it. It wasn't like it was something new to me though; with parents like mine moving was a common occurrence every few months. I barely had time to unpack my belongings before everything was once again boxed up. It was just London was really the only home I had ever come to know. This was our sixth time living here in the same amount of years, which for us is rare, so it was the only thing I ever felt familiar with. The house belonged to us, but it was so unpredictable when we would come back, or if we would come back at all, it made more sense to take all our belongings with us.

Throwing my self onto my bed, I buried my face in the pink silk comforter, wishing I could go back to last week and change something, so my parents would at least think twice about moving again.

_Flashback_

_Sitting at the dining table, I watched as my father ran his hands through his hair once, twice and then again for a third time, before placing them back beside his plate. This was a sure sign that whatever my father was about to say next, you can guarantee I wasn't going to like it. Not that he was bothered about me, he was more worried about the state of the dining room or maybe more importantly, his ear drums if I disagreed with him._

"_Father, whatever you want to say just get it over with, ok?" I said._

"_Arnia, you can't speak to your father like that, show him some respect," my mother snapped, from her seat at the table. _

"_Like he shows me any," I mumbled under my breath._

"_What was that?" Mother questioned._

_Instead of answering back, I just kept quiet not wanting to provoke an argument, knowing I was going to be angry enough in due time. That's the easiest way of getting through life in this family, keeping quite until really necessary since they don't listen to me anyway._

"_Well Arnia, as you know your mother and I are the financial backers behind this years Beyblade World Champions that are taking place in Russia, so it is imperative for the two of us to move over there to be closer to the proceedings. Therefore you shall be coming with us, we're going in a week, so you'd better start packing" my father said, looking straight at me._

"_WHAT! But…but…Russia," I stammered, trying to make sense of what he'd just said._

"_No questions, Arnia, it's all settled," he replied, unfolding his newspaper and putting it up to his face, creating a barrier between us to end the discussion. _

_But I wasn't finished just yet._

"_No questions, oh of course, I'm not allowed to ask questions. Just like you didn't think to question whether or not I wanted to move to Russia in the first place. We've been here two months, that's all, just long enough to get settled, and now you just want me to pick up my life and ship everything over to Russia. I like it here, this is my home." _

_Tears began to prick at my eyes, but I refused to let them fall, I would never let my father see me cry._

"_Arnia, just grow up and get used to the idea. Where moving to Russia, Monday week so you better get packed," Mother butted in, between me and Father._

"_Urgh!" I screamed at my parents. "I guess it doesn't mean much to tell you I hate you!"_

_With that I ran out the room, slamming the door behind me barely giving it a thought when it didn't click, but remained slightly open. I was halfway back to my room when I thought of something. Hurrying back along to the dining room, I stopped at the door satisfied to see they hadn't thought of closing it fully. Putting my ear to the crack in the door the voices of my parents where clearly audible within._

"…_went well, at least all the paintings are still in one piece," my father said._

_At this I had to stifle a laugh thinking back to when I was thirteen and my parents told me we were moving to Bangladesh. _

"_Do you think its wise taking Arnia to Russia, especially Moscow?" questioned my mother. This had to be a first, was she really agreeing with me?_

"_I understand your concerns Layla, but everything went correctly. They've seen each other before with no consequences, as I'm sure the ball will prove once again."_

_My father's answer confused me but it must have made sense to my mother because she carried on._

"_You're right of course Damon as always. I don't know why Arnia wanted to stay, it's not as though she has any friends here anyway," she laughed._

_At that I'd heard enough, I ran quickly and quietly back to my room, tears trickling down my face._

With my face still buried in the comforter, I suppressed a new wave of tears and contemplated my mother's words. What hurt the most was she was right, I don't have any friends. Not that I don't try, but when you're only in on place for a few months, there's never enough time to make friends. Even the few times we have been in one town for a substantial length, I'm always treated as the strange girl with the funny accent who can't speak their language. I guess I should think myself lucky for having the opportunity to travel around the world at such a young age, but that will never make up for the friends I've missed out on.

Jumping slightly at the knock at my door, I turned around on my bed and watched as it was pushed open and my mother walked into the room. In one hand she held a long zipped up clothes bag and in the other a shoe box. Hanging the bag up on my wardrobe door and putting the box just beneath it she stood with hands on hips and surveyed my room.

"Haven't you finished this yet, Arnia I am disappointed," my mother chided.

"Don't start, I'm not in the mood," I replied. "What have you come up here for anyway?"

"Well as you can see I've brought your dress up for you tonight, no peaking" she said as I made a move to open the dress bag.

For once I wasn't annoyed at my mother for doing something without asking my permission because despite her incapability of ever doing something nice for me, at this ball I would be representing her and she has impeccable taste in dresses.

"If that's all you can go now, I've got to finish all this packing," I said slightly bitterly.

To my horror instead of leaving, my mother came and sat on the bed next to me stroking my hair, something I can't even remember her doing to me when I was small.

"How about you and I go out this afternoon? I made an appointment at the salon to get my hair and make-up done and I'm sure Carlos can squeeze you in as well. Just a little something to make you feel better about moving to Russia, what do you say?" Mother asked.

I couldn't believe it; Mother actually wanted the two of us to go out together and sounded sincere about it too. Who was I to turn down an invitation like that, if mother wanted to spend some time with me, I guess it'd be nice to spend some time with her too.

"Ok sure, I guess, that could be fun," I replied.

With a satisfied nod my Mother took me by the hand and led me out of the room.

* * *

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" I shouted, at my mother as we came back into the house, "I KNEW YOU WERE LOW, BUT TO STOOP THAT LOW, WELL, I THOUGHT THIS WAS EVEN BENEATH YOU!"

"Now Arnia, I think you're making too much of a deal out of this," my mother replied.

"Arnia stop shouting at your mother. What are you making this terrible racket for anyway?" asked my Father, as he appeared in the hallway.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M MAKING THIS RACKET FOR, LOOK WHAT SHE'S DONE TO MY HAIR, IT'S BLONDE, COMPLETELY BLONDE," I shouted, as I ran up the stairs, trying to put as much distance between my parents and me as possible.

"Arnia don't walk away from us when we're talking to you," my father said, following me into my room rendering my efforts completely useless.

"Arnia, I'm sorry you're hair is blonde but it's your own fault for asking Carlos to put a few highlights into it, you wanted it brightening up, it was a simple accident" my mother explained.

I tried to block my parents out and instead concentrated on opening the bag which my dress was in, finding the task difficult due to my seething anger.

"Ha! I should have known," I mumbled under my breath after opening the bag, turning around to face my parents I shoved it under their noses, "It was an accident was it, then explain this. It's pink, the perfect shade of pink to compliment my new blonde hair, but a shade that would clash terrible with my old."

It may seem extreme to make such a big deal over a simple thing such as hair colour. But my hair was me; it was what made me different. It was something that helped me cling on to a dream that I'd had when I was small, a dream I still clung onto now. A dream that this wasn't my real family, that somewhere looking for me was a family that missed me terribly and knew how to treat me right. A dream that with each passing day, the tighter I held, the quicker it was fading.

"Do you want to know why I did it, Arnia?" I nodded, hoping it was good. "Because I was sick of looking at the hideous colour your hair used to be, as a representative of this family, I expect you to look your best and look like a part of this family but I'm afraid you didn't so I took it upon myself to change that. But the main reason is because I'm your mother and I can do anything I want to you and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Get out," I said venomously, my voice barely above a whisper.

Finally, taking notice of me they both turned and walked out the room, my dad leading the way, just as they got to the door my mum turned round a smile plastered across her face and said, "Be ready for six, sweetheart."

* * *

Standing in the busy entrance hall, I took a deep breath trying to smother the frustration welling up inside of me. Once again I had proved my mother right and had done exactly as she said with no argument. Not only was I angry at her for having this effect on me, but I was angry at myself for being incapable of putting up any sort of defence. My weakness maddened me and made me ashamed of myself yet I didn't seem to be able to do anything about it. Everyday I woke up with the intent to stand against her, but everyday this resolve fell. My main fear was if I ostracised myself from them, I would have no-one, no family, no friends, no one just to be there, because even if they didn't do anything for me, at least I knew my parents where there.

Turning round, my eyes landed on a huge floor length mirror just to the side of the main doors. The girl inside was almost as unfamiliar to me as the people milling about that I was charged with greeting. As the girls eyes widened I was able to see the familiar icy blue that made me remember and prevent me from forgetting who I was. Taking in the rest of my reflection, I couldn't believe how unlike myself I looked. My waist length, now blonde hair, was softly curled, with half pulled up into small barrels at the back of my head whilst the rest fell down over my left shoulder. A thin diamond trail followed the path of my collar bone, finished by a tear drop pink sapphire that nestled in the hollow at the base of my throat. Matching the colour of the sapphire almost exactly, my dress mimicked a corset style, the bodice tightly following the line of my body down to a point at my hips; from there layers of pink material puffed out down to the floor and swished slightly as I walked. A few simple diamond bracelets adorned my wrists and tiny diamonds sparkled all over my dress reflecting the lighting from the great chandelier and sending little rainbows dancing across the walls as I walked.

However much a stranger I felt in my own body, the way I was treated prevented me from ever truly being someone new. I was placed here in the entrance hall under strict instructions from my mother that I dared not challenge. I was here to greet all the guests and guide them to the main hall where the reception was being held, if the situation arose I could talk politely and maturely to the more influential guests, but under pain of death could not associate with the Beyblading teams in which the ball was held in honour of. Basically my main purpose was to look nice and give a good first impression of my parents.

As usual I felt like an ornament, an especially expensive yet detestable ornament that a close family member bestowed upon you, only for it to spend most of its lifetime in a box in the attic, yet always brought down again when said family member visited once more, as if it had always lived there, pride of place in the entrance hall. This was the story of my life, my parents on frequent occasions pretend as though I don't exists and very rarely have anything to do with me, yet when it's beneficial for them for me to be there I'm polished up and put on display as a peacock, just like today, right in the entrance hall where everyone can see. The worse bit is that on regular intervals either one of my parents would come up to me and put the arms around me and tell everyone how proud I made them, yet they would then whisper furtive instructions on how to improve my despicable behaviour towards some of the guests. Whenever they did this I would just take a deep breath, smile serenely, try to ignore whatever was being said and instead trying to imagine myself over to the other side of the room where the teenagers my age where gathering.

"Psst!" At the sound of the voice, I almost jumped out of my skin, startled out of my day dream. I spun round trying to find where the voice was coming from, when I spotted a short pillar with a large plant on top. The leaves began to rustle and comically two heads popped out the middle one above the other.

"What _are _you doing?" I asked, whilst laughing.

"Rescuing you," said the top head.

"Huh?" Was my confused reply.

"Well explained there Tyson," said the bottom head, "You looked a little bored and lonely over here so we thought we'd come entertain you."

Both heads then disappeared from the plant and two boys stepped out from behind it.

Both of the boys looked my age, or perhaps just a little younger, the boy who's head was at the bottom was blond with a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose. What stood out the most though were his huge beautiful blue eyes surrounded by long lashes. The type of eyes any girl would give her right arm to own, yet so often and most unfairly found in the face of a boy. Standing next to me the boy reached my height, about 5ft 9, the other, Tyson was taller but only by an inch or so. Long thick strands of blue hair fell into his mahogany eyes and a red and blue hat sat back to front on top his head. I'm not sure how he managed to sneak that in but it definitely wasn't on the dress code, lets just hope my mother doesn't see it. In his hand he held a silver tray covered in canapés that the waiters we're walking around offering, which he was periodically popping into his mouth quickly cleaning the plate.

"I'm Max by the way, and this is Tyson," said the blond in front of me.

"Yeah and we're from the Bladebreakers, you've probably heard of us." Said Tyson slightly egotistically.

"Well since she's Mr and Mrs Arakawa's daughter, who are the ones holding this ball for us, I think she might have," butted in Max.

"He he…I knew that," laughed Tyson his body language indicating he knew nothing of the sort.

As the two playfully bantered, I got the impression they where best friends due to their casual behaviour around each other. To me this was strange but made them seem even more endearing in my eyes, because despite them dressed in the formal western suits and speaking impeccable English, Max's voice held a slight American twang whereas Tyson's betrayed Japanese origins. However different their backgrounds and cultures where they still managed to be friends something I was unfamiliar with yet something, I wish I knew.

"Are you two just going to stand there all day arguing and ignore this beautiful lady, or do I have to finish your rescue plan." Came a new voice from behind me.

Spinning on the spot I turned around to face a tall, very handsome Chinese boy. His long black hair was wrapped tightly in a piece of white cloth and around his forehead was tied a simple red bandana. As he shook the hair out of his eyes I was immediately drawn to his yellow catlike eyes, eyes of the sort I'd never seen before. Unlike the other two dressed in suits, this boy had gone for something more traditional and was wearing a black silk shirt and black pants, which I noticed looked fantastic.

"Hi I'm Ray," he said holding out his hand for me to shake.

Taking it I replied with my own, "Hi." Just as I was about to introduce myself, I noticed over Ray's shoulder two other boys had joined us. Looking at them both, taking in their faces, I felt the breath catch in my throat and I felt dizzy all of a sudden, something I couldn't fathom as to why. Dropping Ray's hand I suddenly felt compelled to go over and introduce myself to them, feeling the need to make my self known.

Walking over I noticed how intimidating the height of both boys was. The shorter of the two, but still standing over 6ft, had brown eyes with red flecks and two-tone blue hair, whilst the taller had familiar vibrant red hair and icy blue eyes. Sticking out my hand to the red head I said cheerfully, "Hey I'm Arnia, nice to meet you."

My words caused both boys eye's to widen, and the blue haired boy flicked his eyes over to the red head as if expecting a strange reaction from him. Instead the red head just glanced down at my hand and without a word turned and walked away. For a moment the blue haired boy stared at me, almost judging me, and then he too walked away, following the other without a sound, leaving me standing alone, wondering what I'd done wrong.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder I jumped not expecting the contact, and looked up until blue eyes met golden.

"Don't worry about that, that's normal behaviour from them, well Kai at least, I didn't expect that from Tala, but don't worry I'm sure it didn't mean anything." Ray tried to reassure me, but I felt a terrible feeling of disappointment settle over me which I couldn't explain.

"Yeah don't worry we'd been on the team with Kai a year before he started to like any of us," said Tyson.

"And he still doesn't like Tyson," Max whispered loudly to me.

"Hey I heard that!" shouted Tyson causing Max to roll his eyes.

"How about we take you to meet the rest of the teams, that way you can meet some polite people, who I know will get on with you easily." proposed Ray.

With a small nod from me Ray took one of my arms and Max the other and we followed Tyson over to the corner where the other teams where stood. Hardly giving a thought to my mother's orders to stay away from the teenage bladders, my head was too busy of thoughts of Tala and Kai, and trying to figure what I could ever have done to cause them to hate me.

* * *

**Authors Note: **_And that concludes chapter one, I had quite a hard time writing the end of that chapter I just couldn't think of how to introduce the necessary characters but I think it went ok. But it's not my opinions that count; I want to know what you all think!_

_I just want to thank my cousin Laura (Faith Forever in Harry), for once again being my beta for most of this chapter. I hope you like the end of the chapter since you haven't read it yet!_

_Also thanks go out to my reviewers **Faith Forever in Harry** (Laura), **Anonymous Elephant** and **Red Flame.** _

_And thanks to everyone who read the story even if you didn't review, it still shows up in my stats!_

_Thanks for reading and please review, I'd love you forever if you did lol!_

_Lots of Love,_

_Kirsty,_

_x x x_


	3. Chapter 2

**Eternally Bound**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Beyblade; I only own this plot, Arnia, and any other characters you may not recognise.

**Author's Note: **My first attempt at a Beyblade fanfic, so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"Arnia, get a move on!" my mother shouted at me as we walked through the airport.

Moving day was finally upon us and with all our belongings already flown over on an earlier flight; it was our turn and we where on our way to board our plane to Russia.

With her long blond hair pulled into a French knot, perfectly pressed charcoal business suit and black court shoes she would undoubtedly be uncomfortable for the duration of the journey but that was my mother, maintaining appearances to the last. God help her if anyone saw her looking remotely dishevelled.

My mother was walking ahead of me leaving just enough room for people to think we were separate parties. Yet she was close enough to periodically turn back and chastise me for lagging behind. More often than not I would be stood looking out of the great windows, staring at the planes below waiting for take-off. For a girl who hated the destinations they took her too, I really did love being at the airport. The sense of freedom, the sense of escape, just think that I could slip off and end up anywhere in the world. Whilst being in an airport there is a 10 second barrier I can convince myself that I am anybody and I can go anywhere, and for 10 seconds I am that person until someone shatters my pretence. This time it's my mother.

"Arnia, I won't tell you again." She snapped, pushing an imaginary strand of hair back into its bun.

My mother had been like this since the Ball on Friday, treating me badly, acting like it was a personal affront to her that I'd, by going against her rules, actually managed to have some fun. Not only that but had managed to meet some decent people and for once in my life felt I could be really making some true friends. Friends who didn't judge me by my differences but instead saw what was the same. Strangely for me, my luck seemed to have changed, since these where the same people who would be coming to Russia, leaving me, for once, thankful to my parents for moving.

As we reached the terminal, a sheet of long blue hair caught my eye.

"Mariam!" I called happily.

The tall girl spun round, a smile on her face and her emerald green eyes lit up as if she was honestly pleased to see me. She was one of the people Ray had introduced me too at the ball and although she was on a rival team, The Saint Shields, they where all good friends. Loud and outspoken, she could have come across as obnoxious but her cheeky, fun loving side shone through and we quickly hit it off. Growing up with boys I think she relished the chance to spend time with another girl.

"Hey Arnia," she called back. At the mention of my name the others at the terminal looked back whilst Ray, Max, Tyson and Mariah made there way over to join us.

Mariah, with her long pink hair and yellow catlike eyes stood out from the commuters around her. Given her Chinese appearance and prominent canines, it was easy to tell she belonged to the same tribe as Ray, and I was told that her team, White Tigers X, was once Ray's team too.

Despite such unusual features Mariah was beautiful, yet like Mariam she had grown up with boys so she herself didn't see it. This, I think, made her a better person because she lacked any vain attributes, and didn't use her looks to manipulate people although it could easily be done.

Mariah and Mariam didn't really know each other much better than what I had come to know of them but actually realised that they had many things in common. The three of us where well on our way to becoming close friends and I was looking forward to being able to get to know one another together. For once I wasn't the outsider but instead we where all at the same stage.

"Hey you guys, I didn't realise you were getting this plane to Russia, I didn't think the tournament was starting for a few more weeks yet." I said to them all.

"No it doesn't, but we've all got to register early or we can't compete," answered Ray

"Yeah and at least this way we can keep you company, we don't want you getting lonely in Moscow now do we?" said Mariah.

"Oh thanks, at least now I'm guaranteed to have a bit of fun once we get there," I said under my breath so my mother couldn't hear.

"What are you doing descending from on high to mingle with the commoners anyway, don't you have a fancy private plane to go on." joked Mariam.

"Ha you wish, I thought I'd grace you all with my presence, a trip to Russia just wouldn't be the same without me." I teased back.

"Alright, this is going to be one awesome trip, I can't wait." shouted Tyson jumping up in the air.

His enthusiasm made me laugh and soon all the others where joining in as well. I had to agree with him though, the way this was starting out I really felt like I was going to have a great time, well all except for…

"Ah hem, come along Arnia, stop wasting your time with such people, and get onto the plane." My mother interrupted grabbing my arm and pulling me behind her onto the aircraft.

At her words I felt my face flush, I couldn't believe how abrupt she was being towards the bladers who she was holding this tournament for. Me, I was used to her behaviour but to act like that in public, towards other people, wasn't something she usually did and it embarrassed me to no end.

"I'm so sorry;" I mouthed to the quintet, whose faces all reflected my own surprise at my mother's outburst. Hopefully they understood my silent message for there was nothing else I could do about it.

When we had gotten a considerable distance away from the terminal my mother relinquished her hold on my arm and spun round to face me.

"What did I tell you Arnia, you are not to speak to those bladers, you are not to mix with such people. I don't want to have to tell you again, do I make my self clear." My mothers voice had reached dangerous levels and I could clearly see the hidden threat behind her words, what she was saying was no longer empty, she truly meant it.

"Why though?" my question slipped out before I could stop it and I immediately knew the mistake I had made when my mother's face turned a faint shade of purple.

In less time than it took to blink, my mother's palm had connected with my cheek with such force it caused my head to reel backwards and my eyes to fill. I could do nothing but stare at my mother as the complete shock of such an attack engulfed me. Locking onto her gaze, her orbs held no sign of remorse for her actions which was only further amplified when she caught hold of my collar bringing my face mere inches away from her own.

"Don't you dare defy me Arnia," she snarled, white foam sprayed from her lips, landing on my cheek but I couldn't summon the courage to wipe it away.

With a shove she pushed me away from her and without a backwards glance strode onto the plane.

"Do you mind?" came a cold voice from behind me.

It wasn't until I heard the question did I realise that despite the hardness of what I had landed on it lacked the regulation smoothness of a wall. Turning around and taking two steps backwards my eyes came to rest on the firm torso which had prevented my almost inevitable fall. At the sound of a slight cough, my face burned in embarrassment as I become conscious of the fact I was staring at his chest. Lifting my gaze till my orbs met his,I took an extra step back caught by sudden surprise at who it was.

Kai Hiwatari stood staring right back at me with a look that held no traces of amusement, right behind him stood Tala Volkov with a similar stony look on his face. Both boys seemed to pull off such an expression so effortlessly it left me wondering whether they practiced it. As with at the ball, staring at the two boys, a feeling akin to recognition lodged itself in my throat yet I didn't know what it could be.

However tall I was my mother still had two inches on me, and her taking keep fit kick boxing sessions only worsened the situation for me. Yet here I was still getting stared at as if I was some lowly, pitiful creature not worthy to be in their presence, the two of them detested me enough already for reasons unknown to me, and now to top that off they would think I was pathetic. I guess that being seen getting knocked around by your mother isn't the greatest way to start making friends, but I was at a loss as to why they where looking at me as if I deserved it.

Without really thinking about it I automatically directed a small "Hi," towards the two teens trying to dissipate the awkwardness of the situation.

Both narrowed there eyes at me in almost synchrony, that looked so amusing that if it wasn't for how nervous I felt I would have laughed. Then with a "Hn," from Kai, barged past me and walked towards the plane without a backwards glance.

Standing alone in the empty tunnel so many emotions overcame me at once that they overwhelmed me completely and I let out a racking sob. Hearing the sound reverberate around me I caught myself, and took a deep breath trying to calm myself. Although I would rather no-one have witnessed the event between my mother and I, I realised that Kai and Tala already disliked me and where unlikely to talk about it any further, whereas if it had been Mariam, Mariah or Ray, on seeing my dysfunctional family may walk away and never want anything to do with me again.

Feeling slightly happier by my new outlook I walked onto the plane and took my seat next to my mother. Typically she had left the window seat free for me, effectively barricading me to my seat as to stop me from wandering, but I didn't let this phase me as I sat down. Sliding my earphones on, I turned the music up just loud enough to drown out anything my mother may have to say, and let myself drown in the lyrics.

* * *

Slamming the door behind me I huddled into my coat as the chill in the air bit through the material and made contact with my skin sending lines of goose bumps shooting up my arms. Despite the cold I was thrilled to be outside away from the new house. We'd just walked through the door yet my mother wasted no time explaining everything that had happened in the few days between my father arriving and us, naturally elaborating on everything I'd done, yet conveniently forgetting the slapping incident. Already I felt smothered in the building, and also slightly disappointed. Every new move we made I always wished it'd mean a fresh start between my parents and me, but as usual it was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Walking through the streets of Moscow I let my feet guide the way, relying on my eyes to guide me home. Regardless of the fact I didn't know anything about Russia, a strange sense of security enveloped me as me feet traversed the pavement. I felt like I actually had a destination, a place was imprinted in my mind, that even though I hadn't a clue what it looked like, the buildings would lead me to it.

Grinding to a halt, a strange feeling bubbled in my chest that however hard I tried to identify always seemed just out of my grasp. Turning to the left away from the road a wrought iron gate loomed in front of me. Looking up high onto the top of the gate, I noticed the uppermost part had been sharpened into long thin spikes which continued atop of the walls surrounding. The gate itself was made of separate pieces of iron so I was able to see through, but when I reached out my hand I couldn't touch the other side. Whatever this place was, or had been, since it held the air of abandonment, it was obviously high security, but was it barricading things out or keeping things in.

Whatever strange vibes this place was giving off, there was something stronger, something that compelled me to go in. Looking down at the gate, a large handle hung down that had rusted slightly to it. With a little bit of effort I managed to work it free and was able to take hold. Pulling with surprisingly little strength, the gate swung towards me and I was able to step in through the gap created between.

Once inside, I found myself stood in what appeared to be a large field, but upon further inspection was revealed to be an old courtyard. Resilient to the harsh temperatures, large weeds had managed to grow up between the cobbles pushing many out of place. The remaining stones where covered in a thick moss that, where not smothered in snow, gave a pleasant green colouring to the otherwise dull bricks. However, due to the wetness, the moss provided a slippery surface under foot causing me to be very careful where I put my feet.

The high walls provided shelter from the wind causing the temperature to feel that much warmer, that I no longer felt the chill. What with the change in temperature, mixed with the scenery I felt as though I had been transported into a different world. I didn't feel as though I belonged here but it was strange, a prolonged sense of déjà vu had followed me in through the gates and had grown more intense since. I didn't understand where this unexplainable recognition had stemmed from, nor did I understand what had lead me here but I knew the answer could be found if I only knew where to look.

Carrying on forwards through the courtyard, I gradually got closer to the building until I was stood under a porch running around the circumference. Walking around, I found my eyes staring at the huge bricks wondering what could ever have happened to them to change from such a beautiful honey colour. Putting my hand on them I rubbed away at the blackened outer layer and found my self staring with a shock at the colour they should be. What was the biggest surprise though was that extreme certainty that flooded my mind over what the building used to be like, although now it was in a state of disrepair.

Shaking my head at this thought, realising it could be nothing more than a freak coincidence I carried on until I came to a door. The door, large and ornately carved stood slightly ajar as if inviting me to enter. Sliding my hand between it and the frame I took hold of the edge and began to pull it towards me. Once a large gap had been created, I took a step forwards into the darkness beyond. Preparing to take another step a voice called out to me.

"I wouldn't go in there if I was you," the voice was heavily accented, yet I could still make out his words.

"Huh? Why?" I asked spinning around. Once I'd readjusted my position, the owner of the voice was in clear eyesight. An obviously aged man stood before me, who was short in stature, and seemed very frail as though a light wind would be the end of him. His eyes crinkled up at the sides due to the grin etched on his features, yet despite such a cheery appearance he exuded an aura of sadness and the laughter from his mouth didn't quite meet his eyes.

The old man was sitting on a fountain that was no longer in use, but depicted a muscular young man releasing a Beyblade from its launcher. On the underside of the Beyblade was a large hole, in which I assumed the water used to flow from.

Strolling over to the old man, I once again repeated my question, "Why can't I go in?"

The man's head snapped up until his eyes resided on my face. After studying me and pondering the answer, he replied, "It's a dangerous place."

The vagueness of the man's answer confuses me, but the dangerous part, that was intriguing. I wonder why it was dangerous. Although slightly dilapidated, it was by no means falling apart, so I wouldn't need to worry about pieces of tile dropping on my head. So there must be a deeper meaning behind his words, a meaning I wanted to know of.

Taking a seat next to him on the fountain and hearing no objection, I took this as a sign I was welcome to join him.

"Why is the building dangerous?" I pressed.

Completely disregarding my question, the man once again stared at my face, this time with a lot more scrutiny that I started to become embarrassed. After five minutes of sitting in silence and having to put up with his relentless gaze, I was beginning to feel agitated, just as my patience was on its last notch the man dropped his gaze into his lap.

"I'm sorry, but you remind me of a child I once knew, so please forgive my staring," The man then lifted his arm as if too touch my cheek but thought better of it and dropped it to its original place.

"This is my first time in Russia, so I couldn't be who I remind you of," I replied.

"I know my dear, for this girl is no longer a child of this earth. She passed away many years ago," the grin I had first been shown dropped from his face and his features now reflected his melancholy eyes.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't …"

The man held up his hand effectively cutting off what I was saying. "There is no need to regret ones actions when no misdemeanour has been committed, her death was a long time ago, do not be sad now, she would hate for you to grieve"

With my eyes fixated on my lap, I wasn't sure where to look. This man was allowing me into something very special to him, yet I didn't know him at all. But seeing such a sad look on his face, I felt my heart wrench, no-one should have to suffer like that alone. Making up my mind to stay with him a little while, I searched for a topic of discussion.

"Who was this girl?" I asked tentatively, unsure how he would react.

To my delight his eyes lit up slightly and his whole posture seemed to change, he sat up straighter and puffed out his chest.

"She was my granddaughter, the most beautiful and precious child you would ever come across. Brave and strong, she wasn't afraid to say what was on her mind, but was so conscientious towards others. She wouldn't hurt a bee even if it stung her." His smile that was growing wider as he spoke dropped a little but he still carried on, "Only six years did she live, yet nearly twice that has she been gone. She had a good life though, surrounded by loved ones."

I felt startled at this revelation, his granddaughter was so young to have died, yet if she had lived she would have been my age now. I was starting to wonder if my being here might be too painful for him.

Before I had time to think about leaving, the old man held out his hand to me and in the centre sat a silver and blue beyblade.

"Here, I want you to take this," he said to me, "It was my granddaughter's, her most precious possession, she lived by it. She would want nothing more to see it in action again, it was made to spin, not sit in my pocket. She would have liked you too I think, so I can think of nobody better to have it."

I was shocked by the words he was saying and also flattered he would want to give me something so priceless to him, yet I couldn't take it.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot accept, this was your granddaughter's, I can't take something like that away from you." I said.

Grabbing my wrist and pressing the blade into my hand, the man said "No you must take it, I want you to have it, to use it, that way part of my granddaughter lives again."

At such words I couldn't refuse, with a nod I tightened my hand round it and slipped it into my pocket. Looking up my eyes caught the building I almost went into too and my curiosity flared.

"What is that building?" I asked

To my horror the man's eyes darkened and his knuckles turned white as he clenched his fist tightly.

"That place, is responsible for taking my grandchildren," he spat.

"Grandchildren?"

"Yes, not only my granddaughter, but her brother, her twin, he was taken from me too."

"There both…"

"No not dead," he interrupted, "but sometimes I feel maybe that would have been better for him. He is only just alive, driven by a cause that's been drummed into him. Taught to stifle all emotions and loosing all his feelings."

"I come here every day, every day in the hope that such a place that has taken everything from me, might one day give something back. Everyday I come with the wish that I might one day see my grandson again. 3 times has he returned, 3 times he hasn't recognised me. Just once I wish he could become the loving boy he used to be."

"What was your grandson's name?" I asked, wishing I could say more but unsure as to what.

"Tala, Tala Volkov." He said in barely more than a whisper, yet I caught every syllable.

Tala, the same Tala who had treated me with such disdain, had lead such a painful life. Loosing a twin at such a young age, probably the most important person in his life, must have caused him to become how he is now. I still don't understand why he was acting so cold to me, but at least now I was thankful to understand him a just a little better.

* * *

**Authors Note**: _Well that concludes chapter 2 so I hope you all enjoyed!_

_Sorry for taking so long to update, I would love to have an excuse but I really don't so I am sorry. The only thing I can say is I've become addicted to Gakuen Alice and have been spending all my spare time watching that._

_Something else I've been doing when I should bewriting thisis creating a website where I can put lots of additional info about this fic. I'll have character bio's, fan art (so if anyone wants to do any art work for my story, just email it to me and I'll put it on the site) and sneak previews to the next chapter so check it out. The address in ** .**_

_Next I'd like to thank all my reviewers _**KIBASESS****Anime-crazed Missheru** (thankyou for letting me force you into reading this)**Silver Lining**, **Ruby**_ and last but not least _**Cascading Iris** (Thanks Lor, especially for reading this countless times because I was so unsure if it was good enough, love ya huni!)

_Also I'd like to thank all those who read my story even if you didn't review._

_Finally if those who read my story could leave a signed review, I'd love to read and review your work too!_

_Thanks again for reading, please review if you have a second._

_Hopefully the next update should be much quicker,_

_Lots of Love_

_Kirsty_

_x x x_


	4. Chapter 3

**Eternally Bound**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Beyblade; I only own this plot, Arnia, and any other characters you may not recognise.

**Author's Note: **My first attempt at a Beyblade fanfic, so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

The corridor in which I travelled was not only void of humans, but was clinically free of almost everything else besides, and the emptiness caused an echo with every step I took against the laminated flooring, despite the softness of the soles of my shoes. The rhythmic sound of my feet comforted me and I leant against the lemon wall and allowed my self to realise a small unhindered sigh.

Although I had been wandering around for the best part of an hour, I didn't allow this to dissuade me and I felt content. Whilst I had suffered great frustration not 20 minutes ago, I let that pass and began to make the most of my situation. After pulling open every door I happened upon, and realising this place had more storage cupboards than even I could imagine, I soon became exhausted of this futile method and instead relied upon my ears.

* * *

Upon arrival at the BBA headquarters in Moscow, both my parents and I travelled the height of the building and arrived at Mr Dickenson's private offices. Here a clandestine board meeting would take place concerning private benefactors, organiser's and hosts for the world championships due to start in a matter of days.

In the hope of keeping up appearances, I of course, had been brought along so my parents seemed the attentive sort who wouldn't leave their precious only child at home alone in an unfamiliar country. I, myself did hazard a guess at the truth that it was more likely because they didn't want me going off with the blader's. This, though, I didn't know for sure, but judging by my mother's recent actions it seems like something that could only be on her agenda. I was still unsure of my mothers reasoning behind this opinion of hers and she of course was in no rush to tell me.

My parent's plans for me today were to sit quietly at the back of the board room, observing the meeting but not making any sort of input. But as my luck would have it, it wasn't quite what Mr Dickenson had in mind. Stopping my parents and I before we had even entered the room, he announced in a loud carrying voice that as I wasn't on the committee I was not allowed to attend the meeting for the privacy of the subject matters. Before my parents had time to object he had shepherded me towards the lift, whilst surreptitiously telling me the Bladebreaker's where in the building doing some last minute training, and I had his full permission to roam the building until I found them.

But the crafty old fox must have planned that all along. I couldn't count the number of times I had been forced into those meetings and there had never been a problem before. Yet suddenly there is a worry about privacy which happens to coincide nicely with my friend's presence in the building. All I could do was thank God that my parents had been blessed with all the brains that He gave to a goldfish. And while I was at it I should be thankful that I didn't get my intelligence from them.

Then again I wonder where my brains did span from, perhaps the same person I inherited my hair, I wondered as I ran my fingers through my still all too unfamiliar blonde tresses. Each day I still got a shock as I looked in the mirror and many a times had spun round to check there was no one behind. I guess my hatred for the colour had led to my reluctance to get used to it, plus give it a few weeks for things to cool down between my mother and I and I would dye it back to its original colour.

* * *

To arrive at my current destination I felt I must have travelled the full length of the building. Swimming pools, gyms, cafeterias, faculty rooms, this building truly had them all in abundance. But the one thing I couldn't fathom was that it was sparse of all people. I had seen a few workers and the odd trainee but other than that the building was almost deserted.

I wondered if the Bladebreaker's where honestly that famous to warrant having the whole building emptied just for there privacy. From what they'd shown me by my becoming friends with them, they way they acted around me and others, you wouldn't have thought so, but I must admit the publicity did seem to speak otherwise. You couldn't seem to go anywhere around Moscow without seeing the face of at least one of them plastered to some random surface. It's pretty unnerving flicking the TV on first thing in the morning and find Kai glowering down at you, but I'd slowly gotten used to it and even the paparazzi don't scare me anymore.

Pushing myself off from the wall I realised it was imperative for me to find the boys as quickly as possible if I wanted to spend any real time with them at all. Once again I carried on down the corridor and soon reached the stairways leading on down to the 3rd floor. Just to the left stood a vending machine stocked full of drinks which I quickly pounced upon with the intention to cure my increasing thirst. Sliding in a few coins into the slot, I stood a while debating which of the drinks to choose to do the job. Disregarding the many lines of coke, I decided to try something a little more native and punched in the numbers. With a loud clatter out popped the Kvass and I took hold of the metallic surface, relishing its coolness before snapping the cap and taking a few grateful gulps.

With can in hand I commenced down the stairs at a steady pace. When I was within 5 steps of the bottom a faint whirring sound drifted toward me and found its way into my ears. Quickening my pace I took the remaining stairs at a run and barrelled through the door at the bottom, straight into a stark corridor so like the many others I had travelled. This one, however, was different. With each step I took the sound became louder, and a clinking noise now accompanied it.

Carrying on running towards the ever increasing sound I slid to a halt when I realised the sound was no longer coming from in front of me, but instead through the double doors to my left. Pressing my ear against it, I found the sound to be much louder inside, and my heart leaped as I realised I may have finally arrived at my much wanted destination.

Pushing on the door I created a slight gap between the two and slipped into the room beyond, keeping hold of the door until it had shut fully and silently. I found myself into what first appeared to be another corridor but the openness of the other end showed me it was a tunnel leading on to a further destination.

Edging along slightly, keeping myself pressed to the walls as not to disturb anyone that could be in the room, I moved towards the end of the tunnel. From my vantage point I had a full view of the whole area with the added bonus that the shadows kept me shrouded from sight. Looking around I found myself in a large stadium, about half the size of the ones I had seen on TV but huge non the less. In the middle was a giant Beydish which the boys I had been searching for where stood around.

Taking a slight step forward, I started calling out to them when I caught myself. Staring down at their faces I couldn't bring myself to disturb what was happening between them, slinking back into the darkness I contented myself to just watch for now.

On each of their faces, Tyson, Max, Ray and even Kai, was a look of utmost concentration, but beyond that what I found most interesting was the sense of euphoria printed there. Each of the boys was doing what he most loved and putting every ounce of his soul into doing it with passion.

Looking down at the spinning tops in the dish below them, even they seemed different. No longer did I just see little toys, spinning erratically with no sense or purpose. No, now it seemed different, these blades where an extension of the person controlling them, they worked together, not just worked, they where together, as one. The love these boys held for the sport was greater than anything I'd ever seen, or anything I'd ever experienced.

Beyblading was their life, and at this moment they wouldn't exist without it. Watching them blade gave me a new found respect for the sport, and I knew I would forever see it in a different light. I felt as though some long forgotten feelings where stirring up inside me, and by watching the exchange between the boys, I was finally allowing my true self to break free. I wanted nothing more than to go down and join them, to live the second they where living, but chose to remain hidden a little longer.

Beads of sweat glistened on their foreheads, and even from this distance I saw their damp hair stuck to their foreheads. The battle in the dish that still raged on was reduced to Tyson vs. Ray. Both exhausted but neither willing to yield. However friendly the match was, not one of them was going to give less than everything.

The more I watched, the harder I concentrated on the game, the clearer a strange understanding came to me. I knew this game. Everything they did I could follow. Every strategy that was put into place, I knew it's meaning and could predict it's outcome. Five minutes ago the game seemed to me as if it would last forever, now, now I knew that wasn't true. The way Ray's blade teetered on the corner's, how every so often, if only for a few seconds, it's speed would drop, how his teeth where clenched against the effort it took to maintain the pretence he could win. Tyson would be the winner of this match, not because of any supreme skills, but because he knew his opponents weakness was stamina, and he knew how to play that against him.

Within mere moments of this thought crossing my brain, Ray's blade slowed down substantially and his hit's against Tyson where weakening with each attempt. With one almighty thrust of strength Tyson directed his blade to smash into Ray's, knocking it off course and spinning out the dish, landing at Ray's feet. Letting out a small Ha! of triumph, a smile crept onto my face at my success of predicting the outcome of the match. The smile only grew ever larger as I watched Tyson celebrate his success in such an over the top way I thought Ray would become violent, but instead joined in the congratulations, quickly joined by Max. The only person not joining in was Kai, who still had a serious look on his face as he re-attached his blade to his launcher.

With only enough time to let out a piercing scream, Kai's blade shot towards me at a terrifying speed. Missing me by a quarter of an inch the blade sliced clean through the can I was holding as if it was nothing more than butter, burying itself in the wall behind me, causing the sticky red liquid to splash over my leather bound feet.

As the shock of what had just happened solidified, I let out a shaky breath I must have been holding in. Trying to turn around and walk quickly away, knowing I was unwanted was impossible as my feet where still rooted to spot. Closing my eyes to at least imagine myself away from this place, I took a few more deep breaths, only to open my eyes to find Ray, Tyson and Max running towards me, looks of concern gracing their features.

Seeing them speed towards me, I snapped me out of my current state and took two steps forwards, only to be enveloped by Ray's strong arms and pulled into his tight embrace. Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, he gently whispered "Are you ok?"

Most likely feeling rather than seeing my nod he gave me one last squeeze before releasing me, but keeping one arm slung around my shoulder's whilst Tyson came over and placed his arm round my other. With Max leading the way we headed down the stairs built into the stadium, towards the arena at the bottom.

As we reached the bottom Max took us to the seats in the front row, opposite the dug out in which their team captain currently resided. Relinquishing hold of my shoulders the two boys allowed me to follow Max into a seat whilst they stood away a little in the aisle eyes fixated on Kai. Anger flashed across their faces and without warning Ray and Tyson jumped over the barrier at the bottom and strode over to Kai. Taking hold of my hand Max gave it a little squeeze and I knew that I may not like what was about to happen but it was for my sake.

"Are you completely stupid, what did you do that for." Ray's voice reverberated around the stadium and his anger rang clear.

"Not that it's any of you're business what I choose to do Ray, but she shouldn't have been spying on the practice." Kai's voice by no means matched Ray's in volume but the emptiness of the stadium amplified every syllable.

"Spying? Who's she going to report to? She probably just wanted to come down and speak to us but didn't want to disturb the practice. That and she didn't want to face you're wrath, since you've been nothing but horrible to her since she came." Ray carried on.

"I don't like the girl, if you continue being friends with her you'll find she's nothing but trouble, but that's your choice and I've made mine"

At Kai's words I couldn't help but let out a small gasp, is that what he really thought about me?

"Whether or not you like her Kai, that doesn't give you the right to hurt her, she could have been seriously injured with a move like that, why would you want to do that?" Tyson injected.

"I don't have to justify myself to you Tyson, now you can have a 15minute break and when I come back we'll start the real training." With that Kai got up and left the arena.

Seeing Kai was gone, me and Max ran down and joined Tyson and Ray beside the dish. Seeing the dejected looks upon both their face I put both my arms around their shoulders, mimicking what they had done to me early.

"Thanks, what you just did, it meant the world to me," I told them.

With a mixture of thanks and no problems given to me in reply, I stepped away from them and mounted the platform in which the Beydish was set into. Running my finger across the edge I marvelled at the smoothness in which it had been created. I jumped slightly as the dish was soon filled with three beyblades, the agility they showed in their ability to dodge around each other, was unlike a sport but held more resemblance to a dance.

Turning round I flashed a smile at the boys, trying to convey how magical I thought the blades where. Obviously I must have been successful as they soon joined me on the platform and Ray offered to give me a quick lesson how to blade.

"Would you really?" I asked in delight.

Laughing slightly at my enthusiasm Ray said "Of course, here try this," He quickly recalled his blade from the dish and was just about to attach it to the launcher when I put my hand on his arm to stop him.

"Can I use this one?" As I spoke I pulled out the blade Tala's grandfather had given me out of my pocket.

I don't know why I had brought it with me today, nor why I had kept it on my person everyday since receiving it. It was just something inside me compelled me to take it with me. It was as though if I didn't carry it something bad would happen, and it's presence would prevent that. I had spent hours examining it and now felt as though I knew it almost as well as myself, and I wanted nothing more that to honour Tala's grandfather's wishes and see it in action once more.

"Yeah that'll be fine" Ray took the blade from my open palm, and upon looking at it closer let out a low whistle.

"Let me see, let me see," Tyson said childishly in response to the fact Ray was obviously impressed.

The three boys huddled round the blade and scrutinised it closely in such a way it seemed as though it was not just the blade but me they where judging.

"I don't know where you got this from Arnia, but I'd hold onto it, its old true, but it's exceptionally strong, with a few little tweaks you're looking at a champion blade, good enough to rival any one of ours in the right hands." Max stated still looking at my blade in awe.

"Max is right, even though it could never beat Dragoon; it's still got some power in there waiting to be released." Tyson said impressed.

"It's strange though, it's built in almost the exact same way as Kai's blade and I've only seen a few like those, all from his old team. Never mind that, so you want to learn, lets see if you can handle the strength this possesses." Ray said as he attached my blade to his launcher.

Coming up behind me, he turned me to face the dish and placed the launcher in my hands. Adjusting them so they where all in the right places he hooked my index finger into the rip cord.

"On three we're going to pull this as fast as we can and try to aim the blade into dish, ok, ready, one…two…three,"

With as much speed as I could muster, I yanked the cord as hard as I could and sent the blade flying, soaring right to the other side of the platform.

Giggling slightly I went to retrieve my blade ready to start again.

I positioned my self back in front of Ray and tried another three times unsuccessfully to get the blade in the dish. On my fifth time however my aim was perfect and the blade landed square in the middle of the dish. Letting out a shriek of delight, I took Ray by the hands and did a happy dance with him around the dish; however to my dismay my blade began to falter and soon stopped altogether rolling onto its side in the dish.

Breaking my hold of Ray I stood staring at my blade wondering where I had gone wrong.

"Well you definitely seem to belong with that blade, that's for sure." Stated Max after watching what had happened.

"Huh?" I answered reticently.

"When a blade and a blader have a bond, the blade will respond to everything its owner is thinking or feeling, even the person's movements to a certain extent. So when the blader loses concentration of the match the blade picks up on that and doesn't work as hard and even stops. That's why if I didn't know better, I'd say this blade was made for you." He explained.

Max's words did make sense; I guess if what he was saying was true, that would explain why I always brought my blade wherever I went. The connection between us was so strong already, it amazed me.

"Right I think you're ready to have a go on your own" said Ray.

Nodding I stepped up to the dish, determined to show the boys that I could do it, and even though they had said nothing of the sort, I wanted to show them I was worthy enough to control such a blade.

"3…2…1…let it rip!" I shouted pulling the cord sending the blade flying to almost the exact spot as it did before. Except this time the blade spun almost twice as fast as I had seen it earlier, zipping round the dish. Concentrating hard I managed to make the blade do a 180 turn and it sped round the other way.

"Lets see if you can handle this then,"

Before I knew what was happening Tyson had launched his blade into the dish and with speed unknown to me followed my blade around the dish. Sooner than I'd expected Dragoon had caught up with my blade and began hitting into it. With a huge amount of concentration I caused my blade to push back against his. The harder I pushed, the faster my blade spun, and the inside seemed to glow a pale blue.

"Erm…guys, what's happening?" I asked after realising what it was doing wasn't normal.

"You're kidding me. You didn't say you had a bit beast." Tyson said in astonishment.

"I…I didn't know." I answered truthfully.

"Well this I want to see, give me all you've got." Tyson leaned forward preparing for a new wave of attacks, but before either of us had a chance to make a move, a new blade sliced through the dish, causing Tyson's blade to fly out the dish, and mine to fly straight into Kai's outstretched hand.

After studying it for a while, Kai's orb widened and he fixed his stormy gaze on me. Striding over to where I was stood he grabbed my arm tightly causing me to emit a little squeal at the pain he caused me. Thrusting my blade under my nose, he tightened his grip and shook me with every word that he spoke.

"Where did you get this, tell me where you got this from. TELL ME!" He shouted whilst still continuing to shake me.

Suddenly, almost as if something inside him connected and he realised what he was doing he dropped my arm and let my blade fall to the floor. Shaking his head he took two steps backwards before turning around and running from the stadium.

Watching him go I realised something, I was sick of how he was acting towards me, and then what he'd just done, I wanted to know why. And the only way for that to happen was to ask him myself.

Heading towards the door, I barely heard the boys shouting, asking where I was going and I paid them no heed, knowing that if I stopped I wouldn't dare to continue.

As I entered the corridor, a strange sight met my eyes. Kai was leaning heavily against the wall, his chest heaving as if he had just run a marathon. But what struck me as odd was the regret that was personified in his posture, however much in doubt I was that Kai could feel such things, here it was laid clearly in front of me, proving how wrong I was.

"Kai?" I asked softly.

Jumping as if I had just shouted those words at him, he raised his head and in a split second his eyes changed from regret to hatred. Stepping back at the ferocity of his gaze, I shook my head and figured he doesn't deserve my sympathy. I was here for one thing, and by damn I was going to get it.

"Did I wrong you in another life Kai? What's you're problem?" I demanded.

Standing up and walking over to me, Kai leered at me and I realised with lament, that once again I had allowed him to gain the upper hand over me, placing me at his mercy.

"There's something about you _Arnia,_" He then placed his finger under my chin, forcing me to lock onto his fiery gaze. Something seemed to stir beneath the surface of his crimson orbs that I recognised but was quickly replaced by his fury. My knees buckled slightly but I forced myself to remain upright, trying to keep my expression impassive, I wouldn't, I couldn't let him see the power he had over me. Pressing his lips onto my ear, his warm breath tickling my skin, but his hardened tone sent shivers down my spine. "Things haven't been right since you arrived, your name, your face and now you come along with that blade. I'll give you one chance to get out, to leave now, because I will find out what it is, using whatever means possible, however much hurt it causes, and believe me when I say this, it _is _within my power to do so."

Without another word or a backwards glance he strode off down the corridor, and I watched him go, until he turned the corner, leaving me, just as he had at the airport. Turning round to go back into the stadium, at the sight before me, I let a weak smile return to my face. No, it wasn't the same as last time, because there stood Tyson, Max and Ray, welcoming me back to them. And that, at this moment, meant more to me than any of Kai's words could.

* * *

**Author's Note:** _And that's all for chapter 3, hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Once I got into it the words just seemed to flow so it was great fun!_

_Sorry for taking so long to update, I'm over a week late and I feel terrible about it. I'd love to say the next one won't be so long in the coming but I don't want to raise your hopes! My cousin is coming to stay though, so she'll probably force me into doing loads of writing, not that I mind of course!_

_Thank you ever so much to my reviewers, you mean the world to me, and make me realise this story is definitely worth writing._

_Quick question by the way, does anyone think this story is moving a bit slow? There isn't a lot I can do to change that but I would like to know, so I can do what I can!_

_Thanks for reading and if you have time don't forget to leave a review. If you can, leave a signed one because I'd love to read and review your stories!_

_Thanks again!_

_Lots of Love _

_Kirsty_

_xoxoxox_


	5. Chapter 4

**Eternally Bound**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Beyblade or the English Roses they belong to Cascading Iris; I only own this plot, Arnia, and any other characters you may not recognise.

**Author's Note (1): **This chapter was a long time in the making, but did turn out to be almost 1000 words longer than the last, and I started writing it three times before I was pleased enough with the way it was turning out, so I hope you all enjoy!

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Chapter 4

"And then he just walked away, leaving me standing alone, abandoning the rest of the training session, forcing me to explain to the others what had happened."

Pushing myself forward on the swing in which I resided, I leant my body back until my hair trailed onto the floor. Remaining in that position only long enough to take a deep breath, I quickly brought myself back into a sitting position causing my swing to rock backwards and forwards for a moment before I became stationary.

Turning to my left, then my right I scrutinised the faces of both Mariah and Mariam, both seemingly in deep thought. They had remained in comparative silence whilst I had reiterated my tale of what had happened just the day before. Without objection both had allowed me to talk almost non-stop, until I reached the end and spoke of Kai's parting words. Mariah had let out a loud gasp and Mariam had shouted some rather colourful words of what she would do to him when they next met. Such as her anger was she gave us a brilliant show of her trilingual skills that all I came to understand was 'Kai', 'Spoon' and 'Sun don't shine'.

I had promised myself I wouldn't let his words bother me, and they didn't as such, it was just confusing me. I had lingered for long on his words, trying to find the hidden meaning within them, '_Things haven't been right since you arrived'. _What upsets had I caused by arriving in Russia? None that I had been aware of, yet, I didn't know how things where before I had journeyed here. That's why I chose to tell Mariah and Mariam of the happenings in the BBA but they where just as stumped as I was.

"That no good son of a …"

"Mariam!" Mariah chastised, nodding her head towards the two small children playing on the roundabout a mere 3 metres away from us. "And anyway, you know best out of the three of us that Kai's not always been so cold-hearted."

"That was two years ago, Mariah, a lot of things change in that amount of time, I think Kai's a prime example of that," Mariam retorted.

"But that's exactly my point, he's not always this way, he may have been when I first met him and then again at the last tournament, but when you met him, he wasn't the bad guy, I think that was you." Mariah finished with a laugh.

Trying to follow the exchange between the two of them, I soon found myself lost in a past that was completely alien to me. Although the two girls hadn't shared the happenings of the last three years, due to their mutual friendship with the Bladebreakers had become privy to them all. Whereas I, however well I was beginning to know them, and however close we where growing, didn't expect to know everything just yet, but since Mariam and Mariah where talking so openly in front of me, I was curious.

"Hey guy's," I interrupted their debate and they both turned and faced me. "What do you mean Kai used to be nice, and Mariam used to be evil, did I miss something?"

At the look of confusion on my face both fell into fits of laughter, lasting over five minutes before Mariam took pity on me and decided to explain.

"The Kai thing well I'll get to that, but as for me being evil, well that's just Mariah being stupid," at that Mariam received a childish face pull from Mariah, proving her point, before she carried on. "The Saint Shields and I where given a task from the village elder to protect the four sacred bit beasts. Ozuma interpreted that as stealing them and sealing them away, not me, I just followed orders. Plus we learnt in the end, and we managed to teach the Bladebreakers a few tricks, so I see us more as heroes"

Changing her stance into a patented superhero pose, I couldn't help but release a small laugh at Mariam's ridiculous antics.

"Come on Wonder Woman, get on with your story," I said giving her a slight push. I may have tried to cover it with humour, but I was impatient for her to begin her explanation of Kai. Kai to me was a vague outline of a person, an anonymous identity. I couldn't quite bring myself to hate him; I knew there was something lying beneath that cold exterior, something not quite right, that intrigued me. His relationship to Tala, and association to Tala's desolate past, filled me with bewilderment and the more I learnt of him, the more I yearned to understand his demeanour. Was it any of my business to know Kai in such intimacy, I didn't know for sure, but he acted as though he knew more of me than he was letting on, more even than I was aware of.

Taking her place back on the swing beside me, Mariam kicked her feet causing the powdery snow to swirl around her, momentarily obscuring my vision. As the frozen dust settled, and Mariam came into view once more, I saw her take a deep breath as if wondering where to begin.

"Kai, well Kai's a difficult one," Mariam's tone had dropped all humour, and her face showed more seriousness then I'd seen before. Turning to look at Mariah, it became obvious she was also aware of such a change in Mariam's personality as she stayed uncharacteristically silent, allowing Mariam to continue without pause. "I guess Kai always tries hard to appear the selfish one, everything he does always looks as though it benefits no other but himself. But for someone who had to scrutinize him so closely, for so long, as I did, it's clear that it's merely an act, covering up for some hidden purpose. As we went after each member of the Bladebreaker's, Kai was always there offering words of encouragement, when ever one of them faltered or fell, Kai was there to give them a hand. Always covering it up with the pretence that he only continued to blade for the chance to take on someone worthy of the challenge, but I wasn't fooled, the Bladebreaker's needed Kai, he knew it, so returned for them, not for himself. Tyson won the world championships again that year, but without the strength Kai leant him, he wouldn't even have his Bitbeast. They'd established themselves as a team, and where truly behaving like one and however little he shows it Max, Tyson and Ray mean the world to him. All the threats they faced that year, without the support of each other they would have perished. If my actions and that of my team, had caused them to realise that, call us evil, but I don't regret a thing."

Mariam's head dropped as she finished her tale, recalling her memories seemed to have taken a lot out of her, as if telling us may have allowed some unwanted memories to surface unbidden. Jumping off my swing and noticing Mariah do the same; we both wrapped our arms around Mariam. Half expecting her to push us off, I was surprised when she slumped into our hold, her shoulder's shaking, and she allowed her tears to fall. Although she said she didn't regret what she'd done, her body language spoke thousands of words that she found hard to express. Rubbing her back, I waited until she ran out of tears, letting the remorse that had built up so high, be released unhindered, clearing her mind once more.

"He's still a little git though." Mariam stated once again back to her old self whilst drying her eyes on her sleeve. Taking a step back I found that whatever past Kai may be lumbered with, it was hard to disagree.

In the distance the clock tower chimed 2 o'clock, and I was shocked by how late it had become. The opening match of the World Championships was due to begin in an hour, so we would have to leave now or risk being late.

Mariam had cheekily managed to get me an extra ticket to sit with the other blader's of the tournament, and I was thankful beyond belief. Beyblading now held a new appeal for me and I wanted to witness a competitive match first hand. My parents had gotten prime seats in an executive box due to their hand in organising the competition, but hadn't thought of inviting me to join them, instead expected me to stay at home. Luckily after a few choice words revealing my displeasure of my parent's attitudes, Mariam had whipped up some tickets from Mr Dickenson for me to sit alongside them.

Grabbing their bags from the corner of the swings in which they had stowed them, Mariam swung hers onto her back, whilst Mariah heaved at hers with great difficulty.

"What have you got in there?" Mariam asked with astonishment, giving her a hand to place the bag on her shoulder.

"Just stuff, you know, I thought we could give each other a make over." Mariah asked her face glowing with excitement, so much so I dared not reject her idea. Maybe it would be good for us all anyway, since the circumstances we had all been thrown into had prevented such girly pampering session, experienced by all girls much younger than us. But, eyeing Mariah's bulging rucksack, I wouldn't be the one to show her of my own heavily stocked cosmetics counter, kept thoroughly maintained by my mother, rendering her efforts unnecessary.

Both girls had accepted the invitation to spend that night at my house, albeit with much persuasion on Mariah's part. However upon hearing the reasoning for inviting them was due to my reluctance to stay at home alone, whilst my parents stayed at some friends on the other side of Moscow, she was much keener. I couldn't blame her though; her first meeting of my mother wasn't particularly pleasant, definitely not one I'd want to re-enact if given the option.

Once Mariah had got her bag securely seated onto her back, we set off in the direction of the KC Stadium in which the match would be held.

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Standing at my seat, I could tell the promised spectacular match would be inevitable. Despite being half an hour before the match, the stadium was almost packed to full capacity and the atmosphere was electric. Being the first match of the tournament, both the Blitzkrieg Boys and the PPB Allstarz would be blading all out to win such an important battle. Both would be battling with everything they had to give the best impression and gain the most support, and having such an early lead would be advantageous to either side.

Unfortunately for the PPB Allstarz, as the home team the Blitzkrieg boys already had the majority of the crowd supporting them, but in a game where skill and faith in the bladers came before any patriotism, that could easily change.

Nudging the two girls either side of me I asked, "Which team are you supporting?"

The look of almost offence that dominated the features of both Mariah and Mariam shocked me for a moment, before I realised that they would be unlikely to support either, because, as from today they where all rivals. I wondered how this would affect their friendship with each other, so much so I voiced it aloud.

"It won't because we all know the Saints Shields will win anyway," came the joking reply I'd come to associate with Mariam.

Rolling her eyes at Mariam, Mariah grabbed hold of my shoulders and pulled me around effectively shielding Mariam from view. Letting out a squeal of protest, Mariam huffed and leant in her seat in a sulk, before sticking her tongue out at Mariah. Laughing at this, Mariah shook her head at the blue-haired girl before focusing her attention on me. Releasing one hand from my shoulder, she pointed to a group of teenagers sat about 3 rows in front of us. Other than the Bladebreakers they seemed to be the only other multi-racial team in the whole tournament.

"You see that team down there," After I'd given a nod Mariah carried on, "Their team name is Justice Four…"

"What? Like the tournament held a few months ago?" I interrupted asking.

"Exactly, that's where they got the name from. Mystel, Garland, Miguel and Claude, two sided with B.E.G.A. during that tournament, two sided with the BBA, but look at them now, battling along side each other, finding the true meaning of a team. Through these tournaments so many new friends have been made, rivals too, but our friendships have always been stronger. It sounds corny I know, but although we've never gone out of our way to support the other teams we are only going to end up battling, we all give each other so much help, so much guidance. Each battle we face we know our competitor is at their best, so win or loose, we never fall out over the outcome because we know it's fair and just. Just look at us three for a good example of the friendships that have been made, we wouldn't have even known each other if it wasn't for your parents organising another tournament, never mind become best friends." Mariah finished off with a smile so contagious I couldn't help but allow it to spread onto my face.

"The Bladebreakers are a fine example too," Mariam had given up on her sulk and decided to join back into the conversation. Resting her chin on my shoulder she wrapped her arms around me making herself comfortable. "They've split up and come back together more times than I can count, facing each other one week, working together the next, but because of that bond they share, the friendship never dies and everyone grows stronger because of it."

"It's also because of my supreme skills and talent." Came a familiar voice from behind us.

The three of us all turned round in our seats to see the Bladebreakers filing into the seats in the row up from ours with Tyson in the lead.

"Your ego's as big as ever I see Tyson." Mariam stated with a laugh.

Tilting my head back until I caught Mariah's eye I raised my eyebrow only to see Mariam was already donning a similar expression. Mariam was a fine one to talk given her earlier outburst about her own talents. Twisting my neck until I was facing the Bladebreakers once more my heart sank to see Kai had somehow managed to occupy the seat behind mine. Giving the other members of the team a slight smile I turned dejectedly back round, unwilling to be the cause of anything that may release Kai's wrath onto me.

As the lights began to dim and the audience around me gradually became silent, I focused my gaze onto the stage in the middle of the stadium, in which a spot light was trained upon. In the centre of the light was the face of all things BBA, DJ Jazzman, announcing some facts about the last few tournaments. Another spot light had now come on and was following the path of a very familiar figure as they made there way to the stage.

"Mother?" I couldn't help but gasp. Upon hearing my noise of puzzlement, the others focused their attentions on the happenings in front of us, clearly as intrigued as I was. Listening more closely, I realised what I had initially took as meaningless, DJ Jazzman was actually reeling off some facts about my parents and their involvement in the tournament.

"…and she'd like to say a few words. So please welcome onto the stage Mrs Layla Arakawa!"

Surrendering his hold on his microphone, DJ Jazzman took a few steps back out of the light leaving my mother as the sole object of thousands of curious eyes. Everyone like me was eager to hear what she had to say, other than Mr Dickenson, no other sponsor had ever felt the need to say anything prior to the mach, so my mothers actions where a new occurrence.

"Hello! And welcome to the 10th Annual Beyblade World Championships!" My mother called with an almost natural skill in presenting that I was unaware she possessed. "Today I come baring some exciting news that'll make this tournament different from all others. No longer will you be battling it out just for a title and a trophy, for now, the winning team, and one blader of the tournament, will be in for a once in a lifetime opportunity. As grand prize you'll be whisked away to a state of the art training facility, where the top experts in the world will teach you everything from training to fixing up an unbeatable blade. This training facility is the same where the English Roses where taught everything they know," At this an audible gasp was heard from seemingly everyone in the stadium. My mother gave a little a smile at this before she carried on. "Every team here today has an equal chance of winning, just blade hard, play fair and always trust in your team."

With that she gave back DJ Jazzman his microphone and took her leave off the stage, whilst the crowd broke out into raucous applause. Whereas she left me a little more than confused, they hadn't mentioned anything about this prize to me before, and I wasn't sure I could trust what she was doing. For someone who had openly displayed her dislike for the bladers, why would she do something so nice?

This obviously didn't matter to the bladers who where surrounding me, I had never seen them looking so excited. Turning round I saw even Kai was having a hard time covering up his enthusiasm, momentarily allowing a smile flick onto his usual expressionless face.

I then felt my arm being shaken rather roughly and turned round to find Mariam bouncing in her seat. "Oh my gosh, I cannot believe it, why didn't you tell us, oh never mind that, the English Roses, wow!"

"Mariam I cannot understand a word you're saying and who are the English Roses anyway?" I asked completely puzzled by what was rendering her speechless.

"You've never heard of the English Roses? They are only the best team in the whole of England, they've won every tournament they've entered, and have remained unbeaten for the last two years, since they finished their training at that facility. They've never travelled out of England though, apparently their captain sees no reasons for it, but the Blitzkrieg Boys and The Majestics have both been defeated by them. To win such a prize, that would be fantastic." Mariam sighed lost in her own daydream.

"But why would my mother offer such a prize? It just doesn't seem right." I commented voicing my thought aloud.

Both Mariah and Mariam shrugged as clueless as I, yet it didn't seem to bother them at all. My mother was a conundrum that was futile trying to solve so instead I concentrated my energies on the match that was about to begin.

Both teams had taken seats on their respective team benches, and each one of them was absorbed in their own pre-match preparations. DJ Jazzman was currently announcing the changes in rules that had been made this year. All four bladers per team were expected to spin their blade in each match, making the strength of the team much more important than each individual unit. The combination that they chose to blade in was entirely dependent on the teams themselves, so good tactical planning was imperative.

DJ Jazzman left the arena via a rising platform, as Rick and Ian took to the stage. I almost laughed at how ridiculous they looked, about to face each other, Rick standing almost a foot taller than Ian, when I caught myself. Physical attributes matter very little in this game, with strength of mind and willpower being the deciding factors of the match.

"3…2…1…let it rip!" called both boys in synchrony, releasing their blades into the dish at a colossal force.

The dish itself was a spectacular replica of the icy tundra just outside of Moscow, complete with a frozen lake, which gave way to formidably cold water laying in wait beneath the inch thick surface, for an unsuspecting blade to come crashing down.

Both blades sped around the rim of the dish, testing the surface for weaknesses, trying to suss out their opponent, before committing themselves to spin on the temperamental shell of the lake. Ian was first to make his move onto the ice, a lifetime of experience blading in such conditions meant he was much quicker to adapt to the pressure that could be exerted without cracking it.

Hitting into Rick's blade before retreating onto the ice, Ian quickly lured the taller youth into sending his blade following, ready to attack. A fast, hard battle was soon raging between the two blades and before long the ice started to creak ominously beneath them. Both bladers had lent their strength into their partners and where soon gasping for breath, exhausted from the ferocity of the match. With the last of their remaining vigour both sent their blades flying towards the other at speed, shattering the ice in the dish, and causing of wave of freezing liquid to bar the view of the outcome of the match. With a huge splash the water fell to the floor, soaking both of the bladers and their blades which now resided at their feet, ending the match in a tie.

The whole stadium burst out into a deafening roar, eager to see more of the same spectacular quality, and within moments Eddy, Emily, Spencer and Brian had stepped up, ready to take each other on in a two on two battle. The top layer of the previous dish had been stripped away, leaving a perfect reproduction of the streets of Moscow, once again giving The Blitzkrieg Boys an instantaneous advantage. Making the most of it Spencer and Brian sent their blades into the perfect place for an ambush, whilst Emily and Eddy tried to get their bearings.

It became clear almost in an instant that Eddy and Emily where unaccustomed to working as a team, leaving me at a loss as to why they had chosen to go two on two with the two boys who seemed able to work together as easily as they had one mind.

One thought struck me though, whatever the outcome of this battle, although two members of each team where blading, in the end it only counted as one match. The PPB Allstarz must have exceptional faith that Michael could pull off a win, to lead them to victory, or at least even the scores.

Spinning past one of the side alleys, Spencer's blade shot out in front of Eddy's, whilst Brian's emerged behind. Packing themselves so tightly around his blade, The Blitzkrieg boys dictated the Allstarz course, leaving him no room to escape. Emily kept her blade on the other side of the dish, giving no assistance to her much needing team mate.

Emerging from the streets into the slightly more open expanse beside the river, they now made their blades rotate around Eddy's as they pushed him along the full length of the stretch of water. Shooting out to either side, they left the American's blade to continue at full velocity up a ramp and shooting out the dish.

Exchanging a small smile, Brian and Spencer now aimed their sites on the red-heads green blade. Keeping away from the side streets, Emily was much more confident, knowing she couldn't be fooled into the stunt the Russians had pulled on Eddy. Noticing what she was doing, Brian and Spencer caused their blades to almost mimic the earlier positions of The Allstarz.

Seeing that Brian remained alone in the streets, Emily urged her blade to follow him, determined to take his out alone. Catching up, she forced her blade into his, until realising that method was fruitless in such a small area, she tried to retreat only to find Spencer had blocked her exit, and caught her unawares. A look of concentration now graced the girl's features, and I knew she was trying to formulate a plan to which would prevent Eddy's fate from becoming her own. Unfortunately this was replaced by a look of confusion, then panic, and finally the crushed expression of inevitable loss, as instead of taking her towards the ramp, Brian and Spencer pushed toward one another, until Emily's blade finally lost momentum and fell stationary, proclaiming Brian and Spencer the winners.

Once again the crowd burst into simultaneous applause that was punctured by cheers for The Blitzkrieg Boys, their spectacular win had won over the crowd, and they where eager to see what Tala would do.

As Tala and Michael reached the dish, I sat forward in my seat slightly, like Kai Tala was the object of my curiosity. I knew more about him then I thought it would be possible to know of someone who hates you, except the reason in to which he holds such hatred. I'd come to realise that a Beyblader's blade was an extension of their person, and because of such, its movements reflected the blader's personality. By watching this match I hoped to learn something, something to reassure me that it was Tala's irrational behaviour that caused him to be so cold to me, not a fault on my behalf.

The dish that had been selected to host their match was an exceptionally simple dish, hardly distinguishable from the one in which I had bladed with Ray yesterday. Unlike the two previous matches, both Michael and Tala would be starting off on equal footings, and had been thrown into a match where nothing but raw skill and talent would see them emerge victorious. There was no where to hide, and no corners to lurk in, the battle would be head on, fast, fierce, relentless.

Almost as soon as the blades had been released into the dish Tala seemed to gain the upper hand. It wasn't because of any greater strength that I could see, Tala was just more delicate, his blade skimmed the dish in a way that seemed almost effeminate, dancing, slipping from grasp. He was like ice, his demeanour, his expression, beautiful, deadly. Swiftly he moved, almost disappearing from view, reappearing behind Michael, catching him off guard.

Michael put up a hard defence, Tala was wearing him down, but not quick enough, both of their strength was disappearing, a draw would be inevitable if something new wasn't put into the mix. Michael made the first move to the end the match, his blade picked up speed, and the strain of the match was beginning to show on his face. With one final burst, the centre of his blade began to glow, and out flowed a magnificent golden bird, shrouded in an iridescent light. The appearance of the creature caused Michael to stand up straighter, almost rejuvenated, his blade pushed harder onto Tala's edging it towards the rim of the dish.

Flinging out his arms Tala cried, "Come out Wolborg,"

The light emitted from Tala's blade was so strong, so pure, I felt as though I had been permanently blinded. Instinctively I clenched my eyes shut against such a powerful glare, leaving my ears to tell me a creature of monstrous proportions had appeared into the arena.

Sensing the light had dimmed, I slowly opened my eyes, allowing the animal to fill my gaze. Its appearance matched Tala's blading style perfectly, graceful, beautiful but ferocious. A true predatory creature, a beast of the wild, dominant, fearless, just one glance and it told me more of Tala than anyone ever could.

It was then that the creature turned round, allowing me a perfect view of its face. Taking it in I felt my breath catch and my throat begin to constrict.

"Wolf," I managed to gasp from miles away. I didn't know where that word came from, but I did know it wasn't a species, I was saying a name, I name to what I couldn't be sure.

Familiarity bubbled within me, yet it felt strange as if suppressed, causing my insides to twist. I doubled over, trying to smother the urge to vomit, whilst simultaneously trying to take in deep gulps of oxygen. My efforts where useless and I felt my mind begin to cloud over, my sight started to blacken, yet I couldn't tear my orbs away from the snow wolf in front of me.

I heard the concerned questions from my friends beside me, felt the strong arms gripping my elbows, leading me towards an exit, but I could do nothing to help myself. However far from the seats we went, the wolf was still there, leering over me, taking away all my power.

Yet as quickly as it came over me, to the sound of applause the sensation vanished. I regained control of myself, and devoured the air, as if I had almost drowned. Dropping to my knees, I turned to see Max and Ray either side of me, their anxious faces peering into my own. However ungrateful it may seem I couldn't be dealing with them right now, I felt crowded, I needed to get out of the stadium. Fending off the questions, with "I'm fine thanks," I headed up the stairs to the nearest gate, with only Mariah and Mariam at my side.

My instincts told me that Tala had won the victory for the Blitzkrieg Boys, but I didn't dare turn back to be certain. I hurried toward the exit as fast as I had the courage to push my shaking legs, the girls wordlessly matching my pace. When we where close enough to see the sun filtering through the glass doors, welcoming us through, Kai stepped out from the shadows, so silently I let out a scream, jumped back and took hold of Mariah and Mariam's hands for reassurance.

"What just happened back there?" He said with a nod back to the stadium, "I take it that doesn't happen at all the matched you've seen."

Mutely I just shook my head, not trusting myself to speak.

"What happened? What did you say?" He took a step towards me and I involuntarily flinched away from his grasp, causing a pained expression to reside on his face.

"I…I…I…" I stuttered trying to find the words to convey what had happened; luckily I was saved the trouble by Mariam.

Standing between myself and Kai, she pushed him backwards with a surprising amount of force that he toppled back slightly. "Haven't you done enough, why can't you just leave her alone." She hissed, her voice reaching dangerous levels, before she pulled me away, leaving Kai, standing alone, once again expressionless.

We walked on for at least another ten minutes, still holding hands, Mariam in front and Mariah walking behind. I hoped Mariam knew where she was going because I was in no state to keep track. It wasn't until we reached the river did Mariam eventually stop, and it wasn't until she put her hand onto my arm, and I felt Mariah rubbing my back did I allow myself to be reduced into tears.

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**Author's Note(2): **Well there's chapter 4, officially making this my longest fic yet. It's a good job I've got a love for this story, because I can be very lazy with updating, or just giving up all together.

Well, what did you all think? I'm sorry about the description of the actual Beybattles, I had major writers block, and I couldn't think of how to word them. I hope they didn't come out to bad, but they doesn't matter I want to know if you all enjoyed it.

This chapter is only about three quarters of what I had intended to include, but it was getting really long, and I quite like the ending, and the rest of the chapter fits easily into the next one anyway!

As you may all have noticed I changed the summary too, what do you all think of that? Better? Worse? I have gotten loads more hits since I changed it though, so I'm going to keep it as it is at the moment.

I'd just like to thank my beta, best-friend, and near enough twin sister **Lia,** **(Cascading Iris)** for being my eternal inspiration for this chapter, I would never have gotten it down if it wasn't for her, and for my information about the English Roses check out her fic **Falling Short**

I'd also like to thank my reviewer's **BlackDranzerGurl, Cascading Iris Vicky, Ruby **and **Royalpheonix, **your response is immensely appreciated and I hope you keep reviewing.

For any info about this fic, and any questions you want to ask either drop a review or check out my live journal page. The address is in my profile.

One last thing sorry if this doesn't make sense, and there are a few grammar mistakes but it is 2:30 am, I should be getting some sleep but I really wanted to get this posted.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and please review!

Lots of Love,

Kirsty

xoxox


	6. Chapter 5

**Eternally Bound**

°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°°º¤ø_ Dedicated to Lia, my best friend, twin and source of eternal inspiration, without you I dread to think what I'd be._ °º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°°º¤ø

**Disclaimer**: I do not own, I only own this plot, Arnia, and any other characters you may not recognise.

**Author's Note (1): **Ok, I could fill this with the millions of apologies for not uploading in an age, but I guess since I've taking so long, you won't want to wait any longer, so go ahead, and I hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 5

Reaching up to wipe the stray trail of cheese from the corner of my mouth, I licked the grease from my lips, whilst picking up another slice of pizza from the nearly empty box on the floor. Using only the pads of my fingers, so as not to smudge the still sticky silver varnish Mariah had applied to my nails, I brought the pizza to my mouth, took a bite, and let a sigh escape from my lips, happy to enjoy the simple pleasures of the company of my two best friends.

Turning to look at them, Mariah was leaning against my chest of drawers whilst nodding her head, singing softly to the music emitting from the radio. Her own slice of pizza remained in her hand, forgotten, with a strand of cheese dangerously close to dropping onto my carpet. Mariam was sat opposite me, idly flicking through a magazine, pausing only to take a bite of her own slice as she nonchalantly turned the pages.

Putting the last piece of crust into her mouth, she rubbed her hands together before leaning forward to grab another slice, but her hand froze halfway, and she lifted her head to stare at me and Mariah, a darkened expression covering her features. Both Mariah and I hastened to look away, both lacking the courage to meet such a stare.

"Who took the last slice of pizza?" She growled at us.

Having just over a bite of mine left I quickly popped it in my mouth and innocently shrugged. Mariah tried to copy but had far too much left, leaving half of it to remain still in her hands.

"You!" Mariam shouted, diving at Mariah, in hope of achieving what purpose, I didn't know.

Unmercifully tickling her, Mariam attacked, leaving Mariah squirming and wriggling on the floor, revealing her weak point just underneath her arms. Kicking out her legs, she caught the wine glass I had put on the floor next to the pizza box, and sent it in a graceful curve through the air, releasing the golden liquid in a spray across the carpet.

Instantaneously they both stopped dead after realising what had happened. Turning to face me, their faces where a picture, shock and remorse dominated their expressions as they waited for my reaction. Quickly arranging my features to mimic my mothers I raised my finger to point it at the spill.

"Look what you've done." I said sternly.

"I'm really, really sorry Arnia, I…I didn't mean to do it." Mariah said sheepishly.

This was too much for me and I dissolved into a fit of giggles at her apologetic tone.

Realising what I was doing, Mariah screeched, "That wasn't fair!" before snatching up a pillow and threw it at me where it caught me square on in the face.

Picking up the pillow I threw it back at Mariah, but she dodged it causing it to hit Mariam who was still sitting behind her. Grabbing two more of the deep purple pillows from my bed, Mariam swung them at the two of us in turn, causing a full scale pillow fight to break out, lasting over ten minutes, until a second glass of wine had joined the first, and the bowl of crisps was lying empty at my feet, its contents strewn across the floor.

"Oops," I said as I started to scoop the cheese puffs back into their container.

Mariah disappeared into my bathroom, and returned a few moments later with a damp cloth and started to scrub the marks left on my carpet.

"It's a good job mother isn't here, she'd go spare at the mess," I said laughing as I placed the now refilled bowl on the side, out of harms way.

Mariam looked up from what she was doing and studied me, "Why do you call her that? Your mum, mother, I mean."

I sat silent for a while contemplating the answer, I knew and had seen people growing up around me, calling their parents mummy and daddy, progressing to just mum and dad, but for me that never seemed right.

"That's just how it's always been I guess. I respect my parents; I've seen all the effort that they've put in to get to where we are, to have the lifestyle we lead, so there's too much respect for me just to call them by their first names. But there has never been any real love between us, they've never treated me particularly badly, but sometimes I wonder if they love me at all. I wonder if they even love each other, or whether or not it was expected of them and was most convenient."

As I finished I let out a sigh, it didn't really bother me, it was something I was used to and accepted, but sometimes others didn't see it that way. Most who heard the full story believed my mother and father to be bad parents, but I could never see it that way. Sure they moved a lot without my consent, and where never really here for me if I wanted to talk, but I was never in want for anything really. For the most part I was happy and healthy, so what more could I want.

Love, a niggling thought at the back of my head whispered, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. I had love, Mariah, Mariam, Ray, Tyson and Max had all shown me that, but was it enough? For now it had to be.

"Convenient?" Mariah asked snapping me out of my reverie.

"Mm Hm," I agreed with a nod, "It was a common enough story at the time I guess. Both my Grandfathers are owners of fairly large companies, my paternal grandfather in England, and my maternal in Russia. They had been in discussions to merge the companies for years but both of them where so paranoid that the other was out to ruin them that nothing much had happened. What they needed was security, and what better means then giving up your only child and heir to marriage, with a very carefully worded pre-nuptial agreement. My parents have since learned to like and more importantly respect each other, which maybe is better than a love that could just fade away.

"Do you really believe that? About love?" Mariah asked softly.

Shrugging slightly, I brought my legs up to my chest and rested my chin on my knees. Taking a deep breath, I summoned my feelings on this subject, and then exhaled, ready to begin.

"I don't really have any choice but to hold onto that thought. Remember I'm the single heir to my parents company now, what's going to happen to me. They want someone who cans secure the financial aspects of the company, so what choice am I going to have but a marriage based on wealth and influence. If I don't hold tight to that thought, that single thread of hope, it'll destroy me." I said feeling my mood drop as it ever did when talking of my future.

"But what about Max, Tyson or even Ray," Mariam asked casting a furtive look at Mariah, "They have managed to amass an immense wealth over the last few years, would they not be good enough for your parents.

"I doubt they'd ever be acceptable in my parents opinions, I mean can you imagine Tyson ever running a business?" Expecting even a slight laugh at this comment, I was surprised to hear nothing from the two girls. Looking over at them I noticed Mariah fix me with an intent gaze. Realising what Mariah really wanted to know, I almost laughed out loud. "Ray's my friend, that's all I see him as, no matter how anything appears to be. I would never stand in your way Mariah, honestly believe me on that. I can see how much you care for each other."

"Mariah and Ray sitting in a tree, doing something they shouldn't be," Mariam sang childishly at Mariah, "First comes love, then come se…hey!"

Picking up the pillow that still lay beside her, Mariah swung it at Mariam, cutting her off mid song, and then preceded to bury her glowing face into it, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Aww, Mariah you really do like him, don't you?" I said pulling the pillow away from her face.

Shrugging, she peered intently at her cuticles, determined not to meet our eyes.

"She does, she really does." Mariam mouthed, nodding furiously at me over Mariah's head.

"I don't know, it's just I've known him forever, we grew up together and so he became near enough just as much a brother to me as Lee, but these past few years which we've spent apart, I find myself missing him in a way that's different to how I miss Lee. Is that just because he's becoming less of a brother and more of a friend, or is it something more? I don't know." She sighed, lifting her head, hoping to find an answer from Mariam and me.

Both Mariam and I stared blankly at one another, having never been in a situation like Mariah's current perplexing one, neither of us knew exactly what to say to her. I had never been in one place long enough to develop such an intimate relationship with another, and Mariam having dated Ozuma on and off since childhood, knew now, their relationship suited them best as nothing more than friends.

"I don't really know what to say to help you, Rhy. But how do you feel about him? Do you like him?"

Shrugging once more, she seemed reluctant to answer my question. It was now painfully obvious to the two of us the depth of Mariah's feelings for Ray, but unless she was willing to embrace them, there was little either of us could do about them.

"I don't know how I really feel, perhaps if I give it some time, it'll figure itself out. But anyway enough about me, we were talking about you after all."

As Mariah pulled the subject round to me once more, Mariam snatched up a hair brush from its position on the floor, left over from when we styled each others hair. Gripping it just under the head, she held it slightly below her lips, mimicking the style of a microphone.

"Welcome back Ladies and Gentlemen," she announced to an imaginary audience in the general vicinity of my bedroom door. "To today's The Cole Show, with me, your host Mariam Cole. Today we have an extra special guest, so please put your hands together and give a warm Cole welcome to Arnia Arakawa."

Mariah clapped and cheered enthusiastically from her place on the floor, as Mariam pulled me up to stand beside her.

"Hello Arnia, it's nice to have you here on the show with us. We'd like to use this opportunity to just clear up a few things about your future. So if Ray, Tyson and Max are no-no's for future betrothals, who do you think your parents may choose?" asked Mariam in her best impression of a talk show host.

"Someone tall, dark and handsome I suppose." I tried to smother the laugh that was bubbling within me, and go along with Mariam's act.

"Well what about the rumours we've been hearing connecting you to a certain Mr Hiwatari. The word on the street is that he'd be perfect, having all the right traits and a certain lack of personality,"

"Kai's the type of person I want to avoid" I said with a sigh, unable to keep up the carefree conversation any longer. I knew where Mariam was coming from though, Kai would be perfect in my parent's eyes, cold, calculating and malicious, perfect for running a business, but someone I'm not sure I could ever come to like. Fortunately for me my parents very rarely discuss my future in relation to the company, so for now who knows.

"Well it's a good job you've got Mariah and I then, we can find you some rich, handsome, powerful, heir to a successful company, no sweat." Mariam said, lighting the mood was again with a natural ease, as she peeled the covers of my bed back and slipped beneath.

"Oh yeah, don't worry about it Arnia, theirs plenty of those types of men in Mariam's hometown," Mariah agreed to which Mariam raised an eyebrow, questioningly. "In Delusion City, God Mariam, if I come across one of them, I won't be so quick to offer him up to Arnia, forget Ray I'll be after him in a flash." She finished with a sly grin.

"Aaah, so you do like Ray then?" I jumped in noticing her slip.

"I'm feeling ever so tired all of a sudden, don't you think it's time to get some sleep?" Mariah said quickly, avoiding the subject of a certain raven-haired youth.

Thinking quickly, a retort was formed on my tongue, but succumbed to the yawn that forced its way out first. Even knowing that she was only saying that to avoid being questioned on Ray, I had to admit Mariah was right, I was tired and at half past two in the morning, rightly so.

"You're right," I admitted reluctantly, "but don't think you're going to get out of talking that easily, I will remember." I warned as I slipped into the bed beside Mariam, and Mariah squeezed in the other side of me. I quickly offered a prayer to whatever higher being thought to give my parents the notion of getting me such an over-sized bed, and I'm sure I'll thank them even more In the morning after getting an decent amount of sleep.

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_Further and further through the building we travelled, with each step going deeper into its depths. The air around me had steadily been dropping in temperature, and my breath was now clearly visible as I walked. Hunching further into my shirt, I tried to keep warm as I was pushed ever onwards. _

_How long we had been walking, I didn't know, but the hand around my neck never loosened its grip. Pushing me forward, I stumbled slightly, but before I fell I caught the wall, grazing my hand down the rough surface. Letting out a gasp of pain, the grip only tightened._

"_Keep walking or you'll never see you're brother, or the abbey, again." the voice whispered from over my shoulder._

_However cold the air was, his voice sent my shivers deeper, till they reached my core. The unmistakeable chill of fear racked my body, and I did as I was told. His voice left no room for disobedience, and I was unwilling to show him any._

_The floor beneath my feet became uneven, and the walls seemed to be closing in. The light was starting to dim, and fear was beginning to well in my throat. I was never going to get out from here, I was lost, it was cold, I would be abandoned, left to die, never to escape, I would be forgotten, no-one would find me, this was it, the last day of my life, I would never see the abbey, my friends, Wolf. _

_That last thought allowed a final desperate hope to fill my veins, reviving me like oxygen, Wolf always knew where I was, he'd worry and search until he found me. Never had we gone longer than a few hours without each other, and even then we always knew instinctively where the other was._

_But where was I? Even I didn't know, how was Wolf to find me if I didn't know where I was. Panic once again coursed its way through my system, and a solitary tear found its way down my face, until I tasted the salty wetness upon my lips. _

_Pain filled my body as I was slammed hard into a metal door; one that I hadn't noticed lost in my current state of hopelessness, and fell to the floor. Forcing me aside with his boot, Boris wrenched open the door, allowing me my first sight of the consuming darkness many referred to as 'The Cupboard'._

_Stories of this place hovered over the abbey, a continuous cloud of misery that pushed us to work harder to avoid the gloom that it was. But to us, that was all it had ever been, stories, no-one had ever been brought down here, so we had little proof to show it actually existed. _

_Yet here I was, facing the abyss that had surfaced in my nightmares, more times then I had cared to keep count of. Looking up into the face of Boris, I allowed my eyes to plead, to beg that he didn't force this punishment upon me._

_He either didn't understand, or just didn't care, as he picked me up by the collar and threw me into the cell so effortlessly, my fear of his capabilities doubled, and caused another shock of pain to lurch through my already injured shoulder._

_Slamming the door closed, he sent the room into a cloying darkness, so thick it choked me, and I found myself gasping for breath, even though I could feel a cold draft blowing in through a crack high above._

"_Failure is not an option here in the abbey, and you will remain here until you learn that. And if this still doesn't solve it you can say goodbye to the abbey and that brother of yours, for good."_

_Boris's voice filtered through the door, every syllable laced with venom, followed by the soft pattering of his footfalls, gradually decreasing in volume until the unmistakable roar of complete silence, descended upon me._

_I was alone, he'd left me, in 'The Cupboard' all alone. Only now had my whole self finally succumbed to the full scale panic which had been residing just under the surface. He's done it, he'd left me alone._

_Jumping to my feet, I pounded the door with my fists. Long after they'd gone numb with the pain and the cold, long after the blood started trickling down my arms, I still continued to pound them hard against the door._

"_Wolf, please, anyone, I want to go back to the abbey, please, I'm sorry, help, please help, Wolf" I shouted, aware that no-one could hear me but still unwilling to stop, "Help me, anyone, Wolf, Wolf, I want to go back to the abbey, Please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, take me back, WOLF!"_

_I didn't know how long I'd been trapped there, each minute taking an hour to pass. My voice became hoarse, and I allowed my arms to fall limply by my side, no longer possessing the strength to keep them upright. Hopeless tears fell freely down my face but there was nothing I could do to stem them._

_Leaning forward, I pressed myself against the cool metallic surface, allowing it to soothe my burning face, giving me a slight reprieve from the pain I was enduring. _

"_Please Wolf, help me." Speaking with the last of my voice, it came out as a whisper, even to my own ears, and I knew it didn't have the strength to penetrate my prison. _

_A resounding screech filled the darkened room, and I found my self falling forwards, plummeting through a black abyss until I was caught and pulled back by strong arms. Looking up into the pale blue eyes of my rescuer, and the crimson eyes of his accomplice, my heart sang, and I let a small smile tug on the edge of my lips before I once again lost myself to the darkness._

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A slow rocking brought me too, and I curled up closer to the warm body who held me securely. Opening my eyes, I found a pair of unfamiliar golden eyes staring back at me. A wave of fear hit me as I didn't know where I was, and I thrashed out, struggling against the grip that held me.

A second pair of hands grabbed hold of me, and I was pressed between the two bodies.

"Arnia, calm down, it's us, your ok now." The voice penetrated through the mugginess of my mind, and the dream finally released me from its clutches.

"Mariam, Mariah, thank god." I gasped grabbing hold of them, "It was just a dream, a stupid dream." Letting out a shaky laugh I let the relief wash over me, I was back in my room, with my two best friends, where nothing could touch me.

"But was it...?" Mariam said quietly, so softly I thought I'd misheard her.

Mariah's questioning gaze mirrored my own and we implored Mariam to explain.

Leaning towards me, Mariam put her hands to my face, and gently brushed away the tears that still lingered on my face.

"What happened sweetheart? What was in your dream" She asked, her voice soft, full of concern.

Looking down into my lap, I gathered my thoughts. I was reluctant to re-enter my dream, but telling Mariah and Mariam would make it less real and perhaps make me feel better too.

"I was in a dark place, there was a man, leading me through a strange building only I didn't want to go. It was getting colder and colder, and I was so scared, and I didn't know what was going to happen. This man, he threw me into an…an almost cell, and said I wasn't strong enough, and if I didn't try harder I would never see Wolf again, Wolf, my brother. He locked the door on me, and I pounded hard on it, shouting, my hands were bleeding but I didn't care. I thought I was going to die." I broke off, the tears forming once more; taking a deep breath I forced myself to continue.

"I thought I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do to stop that, I was helpless, but he came, my brother came for me. I only saw his eyes but I knew it was him, eyes just like mine, icy yet full of warmth and there was another, almost red eyes, eyes that I knew, that I know, and at that moment I finally felt safe, my brother and best friend holding me, protecting me."

"How can that be though? It felt so real, yet…" I sighed and pondered over the enigma of the dream. "It wasn't an ordinary dream; I know that much, yet what else can it be, some sort of past life?" I said with a shaky laugh at the absurdity of even the thought.

"Yeah, just that." Mariam spoke softly, a faraway look upon her face.

"Don't be stupid Mariam, dreams don't mean anything, they're simply filled with what the mind has been lingering on recently. Arnia had a strange day; her dream was just influenced by it all, simple as that. It may have felt real but that doesn't mean it was. It was _just_ a dream" Mariah broke in, pulling me close.

Even as Mariah enveloped me, allowing me a shred of comfort through her tight embrace, I couldn't quite ignore Mariam's statement, and it reverberated through my mind. For some unknown reason I was unable to grasp what she meant by such a distant comment, or where it could lead.

Emerging from Mariah's hold, my stare instantaneously landed upon the form of my blue-haired friend. With her eyes staring into blank space, she was unmistakably deliberating over something that I wasn't privy too. Unable to contain myself for a moment longer, I found myself questioning her, and bringing her back from her reverie. "What do you mean by 'just that'?"

"Nothing," she responded swiftly, avoiding meeting my questioning gaze.

"Come on Mariam, I know that you have something more to say than that. It's not like you to say something so serious and not be able to justify it. Please tell me." Almost pleadingly I looked at her, earnestly hoping that she would have something on the tip of her tongue that would be able to assist me in understanding that which seemed to be confusing me even further then I was before.

"Back home, from an early age I was always taught the utmost importance of dreams. No dream is 'just', they are the eyes to the future, the keys to the past and they shouldn't be disregarded. Too many times are dreams taken too lightly, when they can help unravel many of the mysteries in ones life, if you can only find the place to start."

I wasn't sure whether Mariam's words were ones I wished to believe and what exactly did they mean anyway. Was my dream to be taken literally and it was in fact some past life, or was it merely suggesting a state of entrapment in which I would be rescued from.

"Ok Mariam, I'll give you your dues as many of the values the Saint Shields hold do tend to be right, but where do we start with this mystery?" Mariah asked Mariam, her interest clearly held.

"Look girls, it's nothing to worry about, even if it does mean something, it's nothing you need to get messed up in. I mean you've got your matches coming up soon, right? My problems are the last thing you need on your minds."

As much as I was coming to love the two girls, and I knew they cared deeply for me, I was still reluctant to expose so much of my inner self to them. I was unsure of what I may learn of myself or what Mariam and Mariah would come to think of me because of it.

Feeling a heavy weight upon my shoulders, I turned my head to find Mariam with her arm slung across them, and Mariah taking both my hands into her own.

"We're your friends Arnia, and that's not going to change anytime soon. We're not going anywhere, and we're always going to be here for you. Everybody has problems, I have a fair share of my own, but if we can solve any of them, together, then nothing, not even a Beyblade match, will stop us."

At Mariah's words I once again felt my eyes well up, until the tears cascaded down my cheeks, onto Mariam's hand as she caught them. Pulling them both into a hug I squeezed them hard, trying to convey all my gratitude to them in such a simple gesture.

"I'm not sure being with the two of you is good for me, I don't think I've ever cried so much. First yesterday, now today, I'm terrified of tomorrow. But thank you." I whispered into their hair. "Thank you."

"This dream, it doesn't have anything to do with the match does it?" Mariam asked tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Yeah, Arnia, did the dream stem from yesterday?"

"No they where completely unrelat…" I broke off as the reality hit, and my heart beat intensified. The two incidents weren't completely independent of one another, a common occurrence stretched across them both.

"Wolf." I gasped, and upon seeing the looks of puzzlement gracing the girls feature's decided to elaborate. "The boy in my dream, my brother, that was his name, at least that's what I called him anyway, and at the match, I know it sounds strange, but it was as if something within me called out that name, something out of my control. Only now can I see that the two are connected, but how? Was he at the match in some way, is that why I'm dreaming of him."

Both girls just looked vacantly at me, I knew to them it must make little sense, but somehow I may be a step towards my own understanding. They may not be able to help me, but perhaps I could help myself. Another thought crossed my mind, The Abbey, the name of which had been constantly uttered by my own lips, whilst in my unconscious state. I knew it must be another of Mariah's 'keys' and something which I needed to know of.

"Do either of you know of The Abbey?" I asked.

Expecting a similar response to that which I had just received from my previous question, it was to my surprise and delight as both Mariah and Mariam's faces lit up with the self satisfaction that they where finally able to help me with the mystery as they had dubbed it, and allow me to make progress.

"Neither of us really know anything of The Abbey." Mariah answered, and I felt my heart drop, I obviously knew them less than I had thought, being unable to decipher their facial expressions.

Laughing at the obvious look of intense disappointment upon my face, Mariam managed to gasp out, "But, we do know of some people who do."

"Really!?" I shouted in delight pouncing on Mariam, "Who?"

"Aaah, now that would be telling, Arnia my dear, you shall have to wait and see. Now we really should be getting some sleep, since we'll have to get up in a couple of hours if we want to catch them."

Mariam wriggled free from my hold on her, and clambered back under the covers, instantaneously closing her eyes, and snoring a little too loudly to be entirely convincing.

"Meanie," I said childishly, whilst sticking my tongue out, followed by a pout. "Mariiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiah?"

Turning round to face her, feeling that she would be a much easier victim, I was disappointed to find she had quickly and quietly followed Mariam's lead, and seemingly appeared to be in a deep slumber.

With a slight frown upon my face and a quick shrug, I took my place in the bed and pulled the covers up to my neck. Although I was extremely tired, it was long after Mariah and Mariam's real snores filled the room that I finally succumbed to sleep.

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**Authors Note (2):** I'm crappy, I know I am. I have the odd excuse for not uploading exactly on time, like passing my driving test, my sister getting engaged, and returning back to college after the summer, but even I can't think of enough to cover a 6 month gap. So all I can say is sorry, and I hope, I sincerely hope, it doesn't happen again.

If it wasn't for Lia (Cascadingiris) who knows when this would be updated, so all thanks must go to her for giving me the push I needed to finally get this finished, since I did start it at least 5 months ago. If anyone wanted to show their appreciation to her, how about checking out her Beyblade fics, **_Falling Short_** and **_Haunted Essence_**.

I just want to thank everyone who read the last chapter (and this) but the biggest thanks go to those who took the time to send me a review. So kudos goes out to **_Musee.Picasso_**, **_Cascading Iris, Hibiki-Chan, Neptune-Saturn, BottledSpooky, Ruby, Cecily and Quinten Moore. _**You are all very much appreciated.

Erm…I think that's about all for now, if you want to ask a question feel free to send a PM, an email, or even add me on myspace all the addresses can be found in my profile –Thanks again for reading, and please leave a review telling me what you thought.

Lots of Love

Kirsty

xoxox


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